until the end of time
by gleasedlightning
Summary: what happens when straight player blaine and his older sister rachel berry move in across the street from an emotionally unstable kurt hummel?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

Before you get bored and skip through this entire thing, just know that **this is a short prologue on Kurt** because I couldn't think of any other way to start this. Okay, continue.

The night of June 30th, 2017, I had a dream.

Not like some Martin Luther King speech, a literal dream. I dreamt the big climax of this story, which happens around the middle, and talked about this dream on my social media the next day. People went crazy, telling me I needed to turn this into a fanfiction, and I then spent that entire day freaking out whenever little plot ideas came to my head. So, I have my subconscious to thank.

There are a lot of time jumps for this story, and I will let you know when they happen just in case it isn't clear enough. Also, there's not really any smut in this, so if that's what you were looking for, I apologize. Most of the severe topic matters in this, which are touched throughout the entire story are written based of my own personal experiences, or research.

I had a few people help me with editing this story, but then decided to be my own editor after the first few chapters. Big thanks to Rowan, Izzy, Savannah, and Cami anyways.

Speaking of, I'd like to dedicate this story to you. You as in anybody who's reading this, because the fact that the vague summary I gave you was interesting enough for you to even consider reading my story means the world to me, so thank you.

Disclaimer because I see everyone doing them so I think it's necessary or something: RIB have much better things to do than write fanfiction about their show that ended two years ago, so obviously, I don't own most of the characters or locations in this story.

* * *

For Kurt Hummel, his junior year was a blur.

It all started when his father had an unexpected heart attack, and he spent over a month in a cold, dingy hospital, trying every wild treatment to get his father to wake up. When Burt Hummel's impending release finally arrived, Kurt found himself spending countless hours a day making sure his father was staying healthy and following doctor's orders. He remembers how relentless the bullying got after that, and how he'd come home from school with bruised shoulders and sliced knuckles, but that could never compare with how rapidly his mental health was deteriorating. He can remember feeling completely and utterly alone, suffering through an OCD flare up, performing precise rituals at different hours of the day. If anybody caught on, they never pointed it out. He can remember how, when an opportunity arose to go spy on the New Direction's sectionals rival, the Dalton Academy Warblers, he volunteered to go right away, hoping he'd somehow get noticed for once, that somebody would realize he's not okay.

Kurt Hummel remembers throwing on the most blazer-like article from his vast wardrobe, and how anxious he was on the two-hour drive to Westerville, Ohio. He can remember how beautiful that school was, feeling like he'd entered some kind of castle, how his breath caught in his throat and he forgot how to think when he first laid eyes on the teen at the bottom of those stairs with syrup coloured brown hair and an almost cunning look in his eyes.

"Excuse me, um hi, can I ask you a question? I'm new here."

"My name's Sebastian" the boy replied.

He remembers how it felt when his hand first made contact with the other boy's, how it felt to run down that hallway and be practically serenaded with Billy Joel's _Uptown Girl,_ and how quickly he fell for Sebastian Smythe. He _needed_ somebody to finally pay attention to him, to see what Kurt was going through, and that's exactly what this boy did.

Their relationship at first, was near perfect. Although Kurt had to sing backup for Sebastian whilst he sung a medley of 2000's pop songs, he couldn't really complain because of how beautiful this boy he was crushing on, hard, sounded doing it. Sebastian finally made the first move though, by singing to Kurt during his daily shift of his part time job at the gap on Valentine's Day confessing his feelings for him soon after. Kurt gladly admitted he felt the exact same for the other Warbler and then suddenly found himself with his first ever boyfriend.

When Regionals rolled around and Sebastian proposed a duet, causing mayhem throughout the entire Warbler committee, especially when he chose Kurt to sing it with, the newest and most unexperienced member in the group, is when things started to go downhill. Kurt was incredibly uncomfortable by how he was suddenly treated by the rest of the group, and although Dalton had a zero-tolerance bullying policy, his fellow Warblers seemed to find ways to evade actually breaking this rule. The junior had suddenly become left out from any extracurricular Warbler activities, even things as simple as going out for coffee, or a group sleepover, feeling utterly betrayed when Sebastian barely turned a blind eye. Kurt could feel how everybody would stiffen up whenever he entered rehearsal, blatantly muttering things to themselves about how undeserving Kurt was, and how he had next to no talent. Each time he asked his boyfriend to just give his part to somebody else, Sebastian would become incredibly adamant that Kurt needed to shut up and practice his solo.

Since Kurt had boarded at Dalton, he barely ever went home, so it wasn't like he could talk to his dad about this, because in a way, he felt like he was overreacting about this whole situation. Kurt was far too scared of telling his McKinley friends about how he was getting treated, in fear of what they would do, or what they _wouldn't_ do, if their reaction to him getting bullied was any indication. Transferring back home was completely out of the picture, not only because of Karofsky's return to McKinley, but because his dad gave up his entire honeymoon savings with Carole just so Kurt could finally find peace at his new school.

If Kurt thought how he felt about everything before Regionals was bad, the moment he went on that stage to sing this song with his boyfriend and accidentally sang his last note a beat too late, everything turned to hell. To this day, he is positive none of the actual judges heard his small mistake, and that the New Directions just had an all-around better performance, but the Warblers ended up losing Regionals "all because of him". Sebastian ended up being right in the center of countless harassments, because the Warblers decided to turn their previous mumbles into full blown insults, Kurt received on a day to day basis based on everything from the way he looked to the way he sang; the two things Kurt was the proudest of being different for. He wanted to break up with Sebastian, he really did, because it was obvious Kurt was only being _used_ at this point; but, just like in any other situation, found himself far too terrified of the consequences and what Sebastian would do. All Kurt could do was just hold onto the hope that one day his boyfriend would get bored of him, call if off for good and pursue some innocent freshman or something.

Everything reached its peak when his boyfriend of 3 months laid his hands on Kurt. He doesn't remember much, but he can remember a lot of yelling and how he yelped in pain when he was thrown into the wall of his dorm room. Kurt can remember immediately mustering up some kind of courage from god knows where, and calling it quits with Sebastian, as he laid trembling on the carpeted floor. The aftermath involved calling his dad, and finally telling him everything, and how Kurt had begged not to have to take things to the school board _again_ and he'd just come back to Lima for the summer, returning to McKinley for the impending school year. By this time, his junior year only had a few weeks left, and any form of transferring would've been pointless, so Kurt had to just wait it out until the end of May came about.

All he had wanted that year was to be noticed, but when it finally happened, all he had wanted to do was disappear back into the shadows. The cruel irony of everything had wrecked Kurt. He found himself slowly deteriorating, turning in on himself, closing off from the rest of the world, a shell of the boy everyone knew.

Kurt Hummel's junior year may have been a blur, but what came after ended up being anything but.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

Sorry for maybe making you think this was a Kurtbastian fic in that last chapter, I am cruel to you a lot like that in this story. Also, before I forget, I write in Canadian spelling, so that's why some words may have an extra u or something in them, it isn't a mistake.

* * *

As the summer began, and Kurt returned home, Burt Hummel felt like he'd lost his son. Yes, he was very aware of the way Kurt ended up being treated at Dalton, and he could see it took a large toll on his wellbeing. His was most likely the most hopeless romantic in all 50 states, but all his expectations were demolished by his very first boyfriend, a boy Burt would not hesitate to hunt down with one of the guns from his most prized collection. But when it became a hassle to get his son out of bed in the morning, constantly listening to him being snappier than usual, and he'd end up wandering around the house in unwashed sweatpants and a hoodie from that cheerleading team he joined in his sophomore year, Burt knew Kurt was going to need some serious help.

Him and Carole had tried a multitude of times to get Kurt to open up, to talk about how he felt, not to keep it all inside. He'd usually shut them down immediately after the subject came up, so the couple decided that maybe wait for Kurt to be ready himself. Except, it had been weeks since he'd arrived back in Lima, and there was still no sign of that happening any time soon.

Running was the only thing that kept him sane, the only routine he kept up with in his messy, fucked up life. Every single morning, Kurt's alarm would go off at 7am sharp, and he'd go put on a pair of his Nike sneakers and run for what felt like hours. He'd work himself to exhaustion, and Kurt wasn't even sure why he even ran anymore, because he was perfectly fine with how he looked on the outside, but maybe not so much how he felt on the inside. If he slept in one day, or didn't end up running his entire route, Kurt would punish himself by doing double the run the next day. Whenever that happened, he usually ended up sleeping the entire day when he got home, just due to pure exhaustion.

It was little things like that that made Kurt wonder just how _fine_ he was really doing.

* * *

"Dear Heavenly Father, "

"Blaine, what are you- "

"Shut up, Rachel. Now, as I was saying, Dear Heavenl- "

"You aren't even religious."

"Dad, give me a break, I'm praying. Dear Heavenly Father," Blaine began, hoping he wouldn't get cut off again. "I would first like to start off by expressing my gratitude for all the hot chicks you spawned back for me in California, because damn, if I wasn't getting some every night- "  
"BLAINE DEVON ANDERSON."

"Alright sorry. God, you know what I mean," He winked to nobody in particular. "Anyways, I really hope you passed the attractive gene on over to our new town, because as far as I know, the most eye-catching thing there is the sign that says, 'You are now leaving Lima.' That is all, Amen."

Blaine Anderson smiled to himself, leaned back and stretched out his legs as much as he could in the backseat of the Ander-Berry's small Volvo. They had been driving across the country for who knows how many hours at this point, and Blaine wasn't the most excited to go from spending his life in sunny Los Angeles to being forced to move to a state like _Ohio_ , all drab, with no beaches for miles, and not even a single In-N-Out Burger. The recently graduated sophomore was seated behind his biological father, LeRoy Anderson-Berry, who was holding hands and singing some Broadway medley with his husband, Hiram Anderson-Berry. They'd been a joint family for almost 4 years now. Him and his step sister Rachel decided to keep their last names because he sure as _hell_ did not want to be known as Blaine Berry, and Rachel was probably so set on seeing her name in lights as Rachel _Berry_ , there's no way she'd change her last name either. It was then that Blaine realized that nobody had really spoken for a while after Blaine's little talk with God, minus his fathers' singing, so he curiously opened his eyes and looked over at Rachel who was looking at him, seeming absolutely appalled. He quirked an eyebrow at her, and that was all she needed to begin one of her usual lectures.

" _Blaine._ When are you going to stop using girls as ways of getting off and actually _settle down_ for once? It was bad enough seeing how you were back home, and I honestly don't want to have a repeat of that, especially not the part where _I_ have to deal with dozens of girls messaging _me_ about why you don't return their calls, or why they saw you grinding on some random chick at a party when you said you only care about _them_. Women are strong, independent people, who do _not_ need somebody like you in their lives, I used to think so much more of my little brother."

"Jeez Rachel, when'd you become such a feminist?" Blaine countered. "I'm sixteen years old, and I hate to break it to you, but I have _hormones_. As for ever _settling down_ with someone, I tried that once, and she cheated on me. Do you know how that made me feel? I was lost, for months, and when some girl approached me at the beach in nothing but a bikini asking for my number, that made me feel like maybe I was good at something, besides singing. I _don't_ have a problem with who I am Rachel, so _stop_ constantly throwing a hissy fit over it. Honestly, you should mind your own business and just because _you_ got dumped for fear of what would happen if you went long distance, doesn't mean you suddenly get to dig your nose into _mine_."

He'd never admit it out loud, but the part where Blaine said he was fine with the person he'd become was completely untrue. In fact, deep down, Blaine felt such hatred for who he was that he knew he had to do everything he could to keep those emotions from surfacing. He was attracted to girls most of the time, but he hadn't ever loved one. Blaine knew he should be treating them with more respect. For once, everything Rachel had said was true, she hadn't been speaking as an excuse just to hear her own voice, but he couldn't explain how good it made him feel whenever he heard his phone go off with texts, or when somebody invited him over to her place. That stuff with his parents a few years ago all happened so quick and so sudden, Blaine felt abandoned, constantly terrified of getting bullied, not ever really fitting in anywhere. All he had wanted was for somebody to notice how he was feeling about all this at the time. So, when he got his first gym membership, stopped putting mountains of gel in his hair, didn't accessorise every one of his outfits with a cardigan or bowtie, and slacked off in some classes, he gained some kind of _bad boy_ aura. The girls in his grade were all over that. If Blaine had wanted to be noticed, that had been _exactly_ how it was going to happen, and although he'd never really consider himself a hooligan, he really did appreciate the attention.

Rachel loves her brother, she really does, she just isn't the biggest fan of the new Blaine. The old Blaine was just like her! Passing classes with flying colours, dressing in a nerdy cute kind of way, and having impromptu performances before supper time with their dads. The new Blaine was barely even home to do half that stuff and it sucked. She just wishes her little brother would have some form of a wake-up call, and just decide to be in a relationship with somebody he loves and who would show him just as much love as he could show them. Kind of like her relationship with Jesse St. James back in Los Angeles! God, she'll miss him with all her heart. The only silver lining in their entire romance was that they had both planned to go to New York for college to study musical theatre, meaning all she'd have to do was wait a year to be reunited with her one true love again.

As the Ander-Berry mobile, the stupid name their dads liked to call it, rolled up the driveway of their brand-new house, Hiram and LeRoy then proceeded to cheer and welcome their kids to Lima, however, Blaine felt anything but excitement. Rachel on the other hand, had a sure sense of optimism, and was eager to go meet the new people, and maybe bake some cookies for all the houses close by. Ohio was such a change from where they used to live, and the only thing everyone in that car agreed on was that they'd have a lot of adjusting to do to their new surroundings.

* * *

"Burt, looks like we're going to have some new neighbours!" Carole exclaimed as she subtly peered out the window. "Oh, my god, honey, I think this family has two fathers, Kurt will love this."

Suddenly intrigued, Burt went over to where his wife was, and to sure enough see a family consisting of two fathers and a boy and a girl about Kurt's age directly across the street unloading boxes from a truck. The teens were both shorter than what would be deemed average height, each with somewhat olive complexions. The girl had long mocha coloured hair, with a matching eye colour, dressed in some form of a reindeer sweater and a pair of shorts.

The boy on the other hand, had dark black hair, that was curly but fairly tamed by what might've been hair gel, with hazel eyes and the funniest looking eyebrows Burt had ever seen. _He could teach me geometry with those,_ was the first thing that came to the man's head, and then he proceeded to silently chuckle to himself, earning a confused look from Carole. Continuing to observe the family, Burt noticed that the boy's clothing style was slightly different than who Burt assumed was his sister's, as he was dressed in a gray t shirt, navy blue bomber jacket, and dark jeans. He'd almost look intimidating, if it weren't for those weird eyebrows.

* * *

"Kurt, sweetheart, come meet you new neighbours!"

Although the thought of somebody new moving into their small neighbourhood did intrigue him a little bit, all Kurt did was roll his eyes and ignore his step mom, pressing _play_ on the episode of Project Runway he'd been watching on TV. Kurt was in an exceptionally shitty mood today, mainly because Sebastian texted him a huge paragraph, expressing how sorry he was for how his actions, and begged for Kurt to take him back. All the ex-Warbler ended up doing was blocking his ex's number entirely, and having a small cry about this whole situation, as he found himself doing rather frequently. When he heard footsteps on the stairs, Kurt started to get really agitated, because he was not in a mood to talk to anybody at all. But, there Carole was, in the entrance to his room, holding out a Tupperware container of what seemed to be cookies, like some form of peace offering

"These are from Rachel, the girl who just moved in across the street. Says she made them herself, and they're 100% vegan. She seemed nice, slightly obnoxious and very determined on her future if you ask me, based on the brief conversation we had. I think if you got out of bed and went over to talk to her, you two would hit it off."

As much as Kurt wanted to be left alone, he really did love cookies, especially home-made ones. So, he had no choice but to accept his step mom's offering.

"Thanks Carole, just set them on my bedside table." Kurt replied, mustering enough strength to plaster a smile on his face, like it physically _pained_ him to do so.

"Have you talked to Finn lately?"

Finn Hudson was Carole's son and Kurt's step brother who was three years older than him, and on a football scholarship at Kentucky University. Truth is, Kurt and Finn weren't the closest of siblings, seeing as the age gap and very different interests, so the last time Kurt had a one on one conversation was when Kurt texted him "Merry Christmas" and Finn replied the same. He'd never be able to tell Carole that though.

"Yeah, a few days ago I think." She smiled fondly, and if Kurt hadn't already been feeling so horrible about himself, he might've felt a stab of guilt.

"How about Mercedes and Quinn? You haven't seen them in a while."

Those were his two best friends back from McKinley. Kurt preferred the company of the girls in Glee club over the boys, for several reasons. Quinn Fabray was the head and most popular cheerleader in the whole school. Never in a million years did Kurt think he'd be able to call her a friend, especially not one of his closest ones. But, here he was. Mercedes Jones is one of the girls Kurt's known since middle school, and she's been with him through pretty much everything since, and vice versa. Though Kurt has neglected to tell either of them what happened with the Warblers. Contrary to Finn, Kurt has actually called them a few times since the summer started, but their conversations were becoming more and more vague as Kurt became more and more closed off.

"A few times maybe." He replied, feigning disinterest.

"Aw honey, that's great." A few seconds of awkwardness passed between the two. "Well, those dishes aren't going to wash themselves. Let me know if you need anything."

"Bye."

* * *

A week after Rachel's visit across the street, she decided to go back and see the Hudson-Hummel's. Not only because she had nothing better to do, but because they were a rather nice couple who definitely enjoyed her company. They'd mentioned having a son, but the girl didn't really know much about him other than that, only he wouldn't come to the door to say hello because he was _in a rough place at the moment_ or something of the sort. He could probably benefit from her coming over too.

When she arrived at her across the street neighbour's house and knocked on the door a few times, before being greeted by that lady Carole again.

"Hi honey! I'm so sorry for not returning your container yet, but my step son Kurt _adored_ your cookies."

Rachel smiled to herself, even though she wasn't surprised in the least, who wouldn'tlove her cookies? She was an excellent chef. Minus Blaine, he was more into her muffins and cupcakes. Brothers. But that wasn't the first thought to cross her mind.

"Wait, do you guys have a joint family too? That's awesome! You see a few years back - "

Suddenly, Rachel was interrupted by something that made her breath catch in her throat and _almost_ had her bursting into tears.

"Oh, don't mind that sweetie," Carole replied with an apologetic look in her eyes. "Kurt just really loves his musical thea- "

"I have to go" Rachel cut in.

* * *

It was almost as if every day was one of _those_ days at this point in Kurt Hummel's life. Those days that people had where nothing went right, and you just wanted to spend the day cocooned in a pile of blankets, eating ice cream by the tub. Kurt knew he shouldn't have been so worked up over an incident that happened months ago, yet he just couldn't seem to stop thinking about what he could've done better, and why everything happened the way it did. His brain was practically screaming that he needed to stop overthinking everything and just let the situation go, because really, it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be, but the teen just couldn't. Today, Kurt found himself laying in his bed, in the middle of his disgustingly messy room, something the old him never would've allowed, staring at his ceiling and feeling _nothing_. He had the soundtrack to _Wicked_ playing as he laid there, and could vaguely hear Carole talking to somebody upstairs. Not like he cared though. When the beginning of one of the show's final power ballads, _For Good_ rolled around on his playlist, Kurt heard somebody open the door to his basement bedroom. He groaned, getting ready to have to turn down his music.

"Carole, it isn't even that lou- "

Kurt was shocked to see a girl practically float down the stairs, like she had been summoned. He was confused as hell as to what was happening right now, but then it occurred to him that this must've been that girl from across the street. Rachel, he thinks her name is. Because random girls coming to his house definitely wasn't a regular thing. She was a rather pretty girl, looked to be roughly his age. However, she was dressed like a sort of librarian in knee high socks, and a sleeveless plaid dress that stopped around mid-thigh. Kurt had to physically hold himself back from audibly gagging. Thank God, she interrupted his train of thoughts before he ended up actually doing so.

"I've got Elphaba. Be my Glinda." Was all she said before beginning to sing along with the track. All Kurt could do was stare, because _damn_ , this girl had some pipes, but _what was happening_? Was this Rachel girl really expecting him to sing with her? He was so self-conscious of his voice after all the Warblers put him through, so when the Glinda part rolled around, all Kurt could do was awkwardly look at the floor while she looked at him expectedly.

"This is a duet, Kurt."

"How do you even know I can sing?"

Rachel suddenly got very embarrassed. What was she doing? She just barged into somebody's house because they were listening to Broadway, and now she's expecting this boy to sing with her? And a _female_ part too? He had looked completely miserable in the few seconds she'd seen him before he noticed her, what had she been thinking? Oh God, all she wanted to do was disappear into thin air and never set foot in this forsaken town again, but all her panicking came to a halt when Kurt must've sensed her embarrassment and he began to sing, nailing every single word and taking the higher parts when it came to harmonizing. Rachel was dumbfounded, this boy was just as good as her, in fact, probably even better.

After a few verses, Kurt suddenly got out of bed and slowly walk around the room, imitating choreography from the Broadway show, and Rachel timidly finished walking down the stairs and was able to partake, knowing the steps by heart. It was like something clicked between the two, and all their moves were in sync, voices blending together like the actors' in the musical did. When the song ended, they were both holding each other and could do nothing but burst into laughter, not even caring that they were total strangers to each other. Still oblivious to the fact that Carole was listening at the top of the stairs, with tears in her eyes because in that very moment, Kurt sounded so much like _himself_ again.

"Wow," Kurt began. "That was, wow."

"Yeah." Rachel managed to get out in between bursts of laughter.

"Wait, you're the new neighbour, Rachel, right? Please say yes, because if you aren't then I might need to get the police involved."

"Yes Kurt, I am Rachel Berry, keep that in mind when you walk down Broadway one day, for when you see my name up in various lights, and when I get multitudes of awards for reprising the role of Fanny Brice in _Funny Girl_."

 _Yep_ , Kurt thought. _She really is something else._

* * *

The two teens spent the next hour or so talking about their favourite musicals, and who had been robbed at the Tony's this year. Rachel also shared a few stories about her step brother, Blaine, and how irritated she was that he changed his entire persona last year. Kurt wasn't very sure if he'd like his new friend's brother, especially after hearing very detailed life stories about him and girls from the siblings' old school. Around 8pm or so, Rachel's phone went off with a text notification, interrupting her and Kurt's very intense discussion of whether the play _Chicago_ was the best film adaption of any musical, or if it was _Grease_.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kurt, that's just my infamous little brother I've been telling you about." Rachel explained, glancing down at her phone. "He says he's at some girl Quinn Fabray's house for a few hours, so if I need him, he'll be there. Probably just going to get laid honestly. He's like that you know, treating girls like play things, just using them for fun and not really caring about their feelings. He did have one girlfriend once, but she - Kurt?"

At this point, Kurt had visibly tensed, from where he sat on his bed with Rachel, as his brain tried to process what he was hearing. Somebody was going over to screw around with his best friend? Oh, hell to the no, in Mercedes Jones fashion.

"Rachel, give me your phone."

"What? Why?"

"Rachel oh my god, give me your phone." He'd turned impatient, reaching out, almost as if he was going to take it from her if she didn't give it up in the next few milliseconds.

"Kurt, I don't think- "

"Fine, give me a few minutes."

"What's going on?"

Kurt didn't bother answering Rachel, because at this point he was halfway across the room, to retrieve his own cell phone from where it laid charging, speed dialing Quinn. He did _not_ like the idea of her participating in some casual hook up, with a guy who'd just moved to town. After all she went through two years ago with the pregnancy, Kurt was positive nobody wanted a repeat of that. Quinn picked up after three rings, and sounded a little out of breath from what Kurt hoped was running to the phone, not anything else.

"Honey, I really miss you and all but I can't talk right now." Was her greeting to him.

"Quinn, you know I love you to pieces but I'm here right now with this girl who moved in across the street, Rachel." He looked over to her, and her expression was the epitome of confusion in that moment. "I need you to put her brother, Blaine Anderson on the phone."

"Kurt, I'm a little confused as to what's going on." Quinn answered.

"Put him on the phone, please."

After a few seconds of what must've been hesitation from the other Anderson-Berry sibling, and Quinn very clearly requesting the boy to put their conversation on speaker phone, a male voice picked up on the other end.

"Yes?"

"Are you Blaine Anderson?"

There was a pause.

"Did you not ask to speak to me?" Was what he got in response, Kurt trying to push any thoughts about how nice this kid's voice was to the back of his mind.

The blue-eyed teen rolled his eyes, and put on his best bitch face he could muster. Then it occurred to him that this was a phone call, and not a face to face conversation.

"Okay listen up, _Blaine_. I don't give a flying fuck who you are, but you need to stay away from my friend Quinn. From what your sister has told me about the way you use girls, _sickens_ me. You might've been hot stuff back where you came from, but here? You are _not_ going to lay a hand on anybody I care about. Did you know that just two years ago, this girl went through a _pregnancy_?Something I'm damn sure you couldn't commit to, since the only thing you seem to care about is a quick fuck. Please just leave her house and don't mess around with any of my friends, Blaine. I mean it."

Blaine was appalled. He went from pissed for being interrupted from sexy times with this total knockout, to confused as to why this boy Quinn Fabray had first referred to as "Honey" wanted to talk to him. But mostly? He felt like he _had_ to listen to this voice on the other line. Blaine felt awful, but not because a total stranger was shaming his lifestyle, that was a regular thing, but because he just felt an immediate compulsion to process and listen to every word the boy on the other end had said to him. Before, whenever some stranger out in public would give him a dirty look for showing PDA with another girl, Blaine would usually look annoyed and tell them to back off, like he'd done with Rachel earlier in the car. Now all he could force out as a reply to this rant was an, "Okay, I am so sorry," and suddenly ran out of Quinn's house like a shot. _Why did he actually_ listen _this time?_ was all that ran through his head as he walked through the incredibly windy yet practically empty Lima streets back home.

Although they were neighbourhoods away, Rachel and Quinn's expressions practically mirrored each other's. A part of Quinn was rather quite upset Blaine just ran out on her like that, but mostly, she felt a deep sense of pride that Kurt stood up for her before she even got herself involved with this boy, something she knew she'd regret. The cheerleader smiled to herself, and went straight to bed, making a mental note to never make some kind of late night booty call again. Rachel, on the other hand, was seated in one of Kurt's hanging wicker chairs, and after a few beats of dead silence, beamed.

"Oh, my god, Kurt! You just accomplished what I've been trying to do for _months_! I'm honestly slightly confused my brother listened to you, since you're a total stranger and all, and considering the fact he never really seemed to care about what other's think of him at all, but it was probably because of how strong you came off. You were all 'don't mess with Quinn!' and he was all 'I'm so sorry' and -"

"Rachel, I'm going to stop you right there, because I am well aware of how the conversation played out. But what can I say? I'd do anything to keep the people I love safe."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

I mention something towards the end of this, _do not skip ahead I swear to god_ that came out in 2013 rather than when this story takes place, please just bear with me for comedic purposes.

* * *

Saying Blaine was overthinking the call from three nights ago would be an understatement. When he got home, the dark haired teenager ended up pestering Rachel for two hours straight, trying to get information from her about who exactly the boy on the other end was, and why she was with him. So far all he gathered was that it'd been the guy who lived across the street, and he was his sister's new friend. Rachel refused to tell him anything else, and if he wanted to get more information, Blaine had to go over and talk to Kurt himself. That'd sure make for one hell of an awkward conversation. By now, Blaine realized that he really was blowing this way out of proportion, overthinking as usual, so he decided to call up his mother.

Even though his real parents weren't on the best of terms, Blaine still tried to stay in touch with his mom as much as possible. He'd call her about once a week, and they'd both just rant about how much life sucks. Pam Anderson worked as a dental hygienist at a local clinic just outside Los Angeles, always having some of the longest and rarely ever getting a break, so the chances of her answering the phone right now were very slim. Blaine proved himself right when it went to her voicemail after four rings. _Wait,_ Blaine thought. _It's just before 7 am here, meaning it's the middle of the night for her, Fuck._ The only other thing he could think of now to clear his head, would be slipping on a pair of sneakers and going for a run around the block.

* * *

Kurt was exhausted, and not because he was currently pushing himself as hard as he could while he ran down the streets in his small neighbourhood. It was past anything physical at this point, like this feeling of emptiness had started to consume his ability to feel any sort of other emotion. He'd been moping around the house for months, only leaving to go for runs in the mornings, yet he didn't seem to be feeling any better about anything. Rachel's little visit was almost like some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, but she hadn't been over to see him since he yelled at her brother over the phone. That's understandable, but Kurt just felt like the world's biggest idiot for screwing up what could've been an amazing friendship. It was like every time he let somebody get close to him, he'd do something stupid to fuck everything up and then they'd hate him. Like Sebastian and the Warblers, when he blew that note at Regionals. Oh god, thinking about the Warblers made Kurt even more upset, thus making him run harder and his eyes started to get glossy. He didn't know if he was really crying, or if the wind was just strong, but Kurt's vision was starting to blur up. He didn't even see the other boy coming around the corner, so when Kurt ran right into him, he automatically turned his previous sadness into anger. "Watch where the fuck you're going."

"I believe you ran into me.

It was at that moment that Kurt made the huge mistake of looking down at the shorter teen, who yes, he had technically run into. If Kurt had thought Sebastian was gorgeous, then words could not begin to describe how this boy looked. Everything about him was beautiful. He had these dark curls, held in place with a little bit of hair gel, and some stubble to go along with it. He was wearing red Adidas track pants and a form fitting black t shirt, that left nothing to the imagination. Yet those weren't the features Kurt was drawn to. The other teen had the most gorgeous set of hazel eyes Kurt had ever seen in his entire life, and they were looking right back at him, like he was also being closely studied.

 _Can dudes find other dudes attractive?_ Was all Blaine could think of as he looked up at this other boy. If so, then Blaine was _definitely_ checking the other teen off as one of the most stunning people he'd ever seen. He was very pale, making his red rimmed and blotchy skin really stand out on his face. Blaine didn't know why, but he felt a stabbing pain in his chest after seeing that this boy had obviously been crying, and he had to fight back some sort of inner instinct to comfort him. His eyes were blue at first glance, but if he looked close enough, there were other colours swirling around, and Blaine was beyond fascinated by them. His hair was a shade of chestnut brown, and perfectly styled atop his head. The boy in front of him wasn't necessarily muscular, yet it was obvious he had a nice physique. He was wearing gray yoga pants, with a black V neck t shirt to go along with it. Then it occurred to Blaine that the other boy's voice sounded very familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it.

"Wait," Blaine began. "Do I know you?"  
"Do you go to McKinley?"

"Uh no. I just moved here, my name's Blaine Anderson."

 _Shit._ Kurt thought. _This was Rachel's brother? Straight as an arrow Blaine Anderson? I yelled at you on the phone Blaine Anderson?_ He did not know what he was expecting Blaine to look like, but Kurt hadn't been prepared for this. Then he scolded himself, remembering that this guy attracted a lot of girls, so of course he must've been sort of attractive. However, he last thing Kurt needed right now was to fall for somebody again, and much less another straight boy.

Even though McKinley's star quarterback had been three years older, in his sophomore year, Kurt had a massive crush on Finn Hudson. Kurt's the reason Burt and Carole even met in the first place. Then there was Sam Evans, and Kurt liked him not only because he was cute, but because he was positive Sam was gay when they first met. Now there was Blaine, who Kurt didn't necessarily have a crush on, obviously, but sure was attracted to. Any chance of a friendship was ruined because why would Blaine want to be friends with somebody who yelled at him on the phone like that? It's not like Kurt would ever take back what he said, because it had all been There was no way Blaine would ever even talk to him when he found out it had been Kurt who called him, even if he were into boys. His life was becoming a lot more complicated than it had already been.

"Hey, um, a-are you okay?" He heard the other boy ask gingerly.

The only thing Kurt could do was run as fast as he could in the other direction.

* * *

When he arrived back on his street, Kurt noticed Rachel was outside, getting something from the Volvo car parked in her driveway. Then she turned around, noticing him, and started to jump up and down, waving. He really hoped nobody could see her, for his sake more than anyone else's.

"Kurt!" She yelled at him. "It's me, Rachel Berry! Hi! Come on over, I was just about to do a daily impromptu performance with my dads!"

"Rachel, I can't right now, I've got chores to do. Plus, I'm all sweaty."

Truth is, Kurt was terrified Blaine would come home during his time over there, even if it was just to watch Rachel sing for a few minutes. Or worse, he could've already been home. Kurt knew his budding fear of being face to face with Blaine Anderson was completely ridiculous, but it wasn't like he could control it.

"Come on, Kurt! I saw your parents leave for work this morning, you have all day! And as for sweaty, my brother just texted me saying he'll be home in 20 minutes' time from a run, and trust me, if anybody will be sweaty and gross, it'll be him."  
Based on the one time he'd involuntarily hung out with Rachel, Kurt knew there was no point in trying to argue with her. So, he just breathed out a sigh and forced a smile as he walked across the street and followed the girl into the Ander-Berry household. Kurt said a silent prayer to a God he didn't believe in that he'd be out of there before the twenty minutes were up.

"Oh, Kurt, one more thing. Can I get your number?" This was a little surprising, he thought she'd hate him after the things he said to Blaine.

"Yeah sure, give me your phone and I'll put mine in, and then I'll text myself so I have yours."

Rachel smiled at him, and did as she was told, smiling the entire time. Kurt was slightly weirded out that somebody would be that excited to get his number, it wasn't like he was some hot commodity or anything, but the teen didn't think too much of it.

They had a very nice house, and the interior decorator buried inside Kurt was incredibly pleased with their design choices. He didn't really get a good look around, since Rachel was walking pretty fast, but the room she led him into was definitely his favourite from all of the ones he'd quickly gotten a glimpse of. It was a rather large room, with yellow walls, and it opened into a sun nook, a piano right in the center of it. On the shelves were all kinds of different music related books, and pages of sheet music. The walls were lined with Broadway playbills, and if Kurt looked close enough, he could see most of them were from the Pantages theatre in Hollywood, rather than their original New York locations. He also noticed another thing framed alongside the playbills, which made his heart clench with what was pure jealousy. It was a photo of a young Rachel with the entire original cast of _Wicked_ on Broadway, something he knew he'd have to ask her about later. Kurt then turned his attention to the girl, who was fixing her hair as she stood next to the piano, then saw two men come into the room, who he could only assume were hers and Blaine's fathers.

"Hi dads! This is Kurt from across the street! You know, the one who I was talking about the other day."

"So, _this_ is the famous Kurt who is apparently the best singer my daughter has ever heard," The one with the glasses said. "Care to show us a little demo"

Kurt was so taken aback Rachel said that about him, he didn't even process what was being asked. Luckily, Rachel gave her dad a look that basically told him to stop talking, probably because she remembered how nervous he'd gotten when he first sang with her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kurt, what an awful way to make an impression." He replied, sounding sincere. "My name is Hiram Anderson-Berry, better known as Ander-Berry, and this is Blaine's father, Leroy."

Hearing Blaine's name, Kurt remembered that he needed to be out of that house as quick as he could.

"So," Kurt began, sounding a little too eager. "What are you guys going to sing?"

"People, from _Funny Girl_." Rachel stated.

Kurt wasn't even surprised. He was excited to see how Rachel sung Barbra songs, since she was so passionate on reprising her title role one day. Blaine's father, Leroy, came and sat down next to him, as they sat on bar stools in front of their kitchen counter. Kurt felt a small surge of anxiety, to think that Blaine's father was _right_ there, but he pushed it down as much as he could, and focused on his new friend as she began to sing.

Not even sixteen bars into the song and Kurt was crying. He'd always been incredibly sensitive whenever it comes to music. The way Rachel got so emotionally invested whenever she sang, based on the one other song they sang together as a reference, really touched something inside him. It didn't help that her father was such a talented pianist either. When she sang the last line of the song, and her biological father played the last few notes on the piano. Kurt could not stop clapping for them. She ran on over to where he was seated on a stool by the counter and wrapped him up in a hug.

"Rachel, that was –"

Kurt didn't even get to finish the sentence before he heard the front door open, his heart sinking in his chest. In strutted Blaine, immediately peeling the shirt he had on over his head, throwing it down onto the table, oblivious to the fact that Kurt was in the room. He'd _definitely_ been correct about the observation of Blaine having a toned body, but all Kurt could do was sit there and stare, mouth agape.

"Alright, I'm going to hop in the shower and take a snooze for a little bit, so don't bother trying to talk to me. Why are you guys just all staring at me like th - oh."

How did he not see the running guy earlier? Wait, why was he in his house? It didn't take long for Blaine to put two and two together to realize this must've been Rachel's friend. Wait, was the guy who yelled at him over the phone? Fuck. A now _very_ flustered Blaine scrambled to grab his shirt off the table and put it back on, but it was just a mess of what arm goes where. He didn't have to worry for long though, since Kurt said something about having to leave, and was out of the house just like that. This was two times in the past hour this boy had run away from Blaine, and he had no idea why.

* * *

Kurt was a mess. He ripped open the door to his house and almost fell as he ran down the stairs to his bedroom. His chest was heaving and he couldn't focus on anything in particular. He frantically tore off all his clothes and turned his shower on too hot by accident, so he yelped in pain as he set foot in there. What the hell was wrong with him? Kurt sobbed, closing in on himself in a small ball on the floor in his shower, the water mixing with his tears. He was tired of this. Tired of overthinking every little thing. Tired of living in a fear that everybody hated him. Tired of feeling the way he did. He was just so tired of everything.

* * *

After what felt like days, Kurt shampooed and conditioned his hair, cleaning himself off. When he stepped out of the shower, the teen had calmed down a little bit, but he still didn't feel any better about himself. It was that very moment where he decided to call up his two best friends in the entire world, and truly talk to them.

It was only just after 10am by the time Quinn and Mercedes got out of bed and each drove over to Kurt's house, makeup free and still in pyjamas. When Kurt got the door for Mercedes who arrived first, she immediately enclosed him in a hug, which only made him cry more. His friend whispered things like "Baby I'm so sorry" and "You've got to tell me what's going on".

Mercedes then took him by the hand and led him downstairs, and while he was getting himself situated on his Egyptian cotton sheets, the doorbell rang again, signifying Quinn's arrival.  
"You stay right there." Mercedes stated.

When Quinn laid eyes on Kurt, and saw how much of a mess him and his room were, she almost started to cry herself. What had happened to her best friend who was so full of life and had a witty remark for everything? That's when it hit her that Kurt had just been using sarcasm as a way to hide his loneliness all throughout his sophomore year. When junior year rolled around, Kurt must've given up completely, therefore he succumbed to the bullying, and immediately transferred schools.

Quinn had no idea what happened over at Dalton, but she and Mercedes both knew it really made their friend's mental health rapidly decline, and he had completely closed in on himself. Whenever they tried to have him over for a group sleepover, or they'd call him for a skype session, Kurt would either say he wasn't available, or just hang up his side of the chat, saying he was too tired. When he called three days ago, completely out of the blue just to yell at the cute boy Quinn met at the grocery store that day who she had swapped numbers with, that was when she figured that Kurt wasn't getting better any soon. She had waited for him to contact her first, because Quinn knew that trying to pry any information from him would've only been a negative thing rather than a positive, so here her and Mercedes sat, across from him on his bed, as he finally spilled everything.

Kurt told them his side of the story, beginning from how he felt when he first laid eyes on Sebastian, and ending with how he ran out on Blaine for the second time a few hours ago. Quinn and Mercedes listened attentively, and only piped up a few times. It was usually say how angry they were that the Warblers treated him like they did, and to ask why he was so terrified of the boy across the street. He was surprised Mercedes didn't really say anything about the phone call part, but then it occurred to him that Quinn must've texted her about it. Kurt told them the reason he couldn't be around Blaine was not only how scared he was the other teen hated him after what he did, but he couldn't risk falling for somebody after everything, and definitely not his new friend's straight brother. They were interested about Rachel though, and insisted on meeting her sometime this week, but not today, because that was just for the three of them alone.

After their little heart to heart, they spent a few minutes just holding Kurt and apologizing for letting him go this long feeling how he did. Quinn and Mercedes recommended he open up to his parents too, and if he needed it, see a therapist. Quinn gave him the business card from her wallet of the one she saw a few times two years ago, when she was dealing with her pregnancy. After that, the girls each talked about what they had spent their summer doing so far, and how Mercedes and her parents were going to a family reunion over in Illinois in a few weeks. They also took some time to clean up Kurt's entire room, and they even convinced him that his fear of Blaine Anderson was just him being paranoid, and to give this boy a chance, even just as friends. The trio spent the rest of the day curled up in bed in their pyjamas, watching each of their favourite movies, quoting the dialogue, and singing some of the songs if it was a musical. Kurt felt truly loved for the first time in a long time, and he realized that he never wanted to let this feeling go.

* * *

The girls left around 8pm, and Kurt unlocked his phone to see a message from Carole asking how he was, which he didn't bother answering because she was just over in the living room by this point, and a shit ton from Rachel. They were mostly her just saying hi, talking about the many talents of Barbra Streisand, and recommending this album to her called _Louder_ by an artist named Lea Michele. He ignored most of her messages, yet he did listen to a few songs from that album. He thought this Lea girl had a good voice, but the songs she was singing didn't really suit it. The woman had more of a Broadway voice than a pop one. He texted all of this to Rachel, but her response was the last thing he could've expected.

 **Rachel:** Can I give my little brother your number? He's been bugging me all day about it.

 **Kurt:** …

Kurt really had to think about this. He was very confused as to why Blaine would even want his number so much he was asking Rachel about it to a point she gave in. He probably had something so say, which was equally as terrifying as seeing him in person again. But after thinking about all the girls said to him today to help him with this completely nonsense fear, curiosity got the best of Kurt, and he texted Rachel back three letters that he hoped he'd never come to regret.

 **Kurt:** Yes.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been exactly a week, and still no message from Blaine Anderson. Kurt had seen Rachel a few times since their text conversation, yet he was too scared to ask any questions about her brother or why he had wanted Kurt's number in the first place. It was a Wednesday night now, just after 10pm, and Kurt stood in front of his bathroom mirror, going over what he was about to do in his head. The teen was getting ready to go upstairs and tell Burt and Carole something that utterly terrified him, yet gave him so much hope at the same time.

Kurt put on his best brave face as he told his parents to sit down at their kitchen table. There was no backing out of things now.

Carole looked at him with her usual motherly gaze, yet it had been softened even more, if that was even possible. His father wore the same usual expression, face blank, but to Kurt, he could tell Burt Hummel was worried about his son. Kurt took a shaky breath, and said the nine words he'd been dreading of saying ever since Quinn and Mercedes left last Wednesday.

"Dad, Carole, I need to start seeing a therapist."

* * *

Blaine Anderson did not know what the hell was wrong with him. He didn't know why he felt so compelled to get the boy he'd come to know as Kurt Hummel's phone number from Rachel. He didn't know why it'd been an entire seven days, yet Blaine still found himself typing various messages under Kurt's name and deleting them before he pressed send. He didn't know why he felt so awful those two times he ran out on him. He didn't know why this boy was such a mystery to him, and he felt as if his sole purpose on this planet was to solve it. He didn't know why upon first seeing him, Blaine felt the way he did. He didn't know what the fuck was happening to him, and why every time a cute girl would approach him in public, he'd tell her to back off. He also had no logical explanation as to why he found himself going through various numbers of past late night booty calls, and deleting them all off his phone.

Then, completely out of the blue, Blaine realized there was only one thing he could do to sort out how he was feeling, and he was more than willing to suffer the consequences. He typed out a few simple words to Kurt, a vast change compared to the paragraphs he'd written before, but what made this time any different is that he actually sent the message.

* * *

His parent's reaction was so much better than he thought. He assumed there'd be a few tears on Carole's end, and Burt wouldn't really understand his son's request. Turns out they were incredibly proud of him for taking this big leap forward himself, and doing what he thought was going to be the best for his recovery. They had all had a family hug, then parted ways for the night. It was just after 11:30 now, and his father and Carole were long asleep, but Kurt was seated on his bed, doing some fashion sketches, an old hobby of his. He was feeling a lot better about himself, and thinking about the events from the previous year still made him a little sad, but not as much as before, talking about it had already really helped. He wasn't himself entirely yet, and he knew that getting some form of professional counseling would really help him take that huge step forward.

Suddenly, he heard his phone buzz from the nightstand next to his bed. Kurt just assumed it was probably a goodnight text from one of the girls, but was confused to find it was from an unknown contact. Then he read the message and his heart did a funny thing in his chest.

 **Unknown:** Kurt, this is Blaine. Your bedroom is downstairs, right?

 **Kurt:** Is this what took you a week to ask me?

 **Unknown:** Please just answer the question.

Although the logical side of Kurt that had no idea what Blaine wanted, and how incredibly creepy this question was, he couldn't help being intrigued.

 **Kurt:** Yes, it's downstairs.

There was no answer after that, so Kurt took the time to change the contact name from "Unknown" to "Blaine Anderson", then picked up his sketchbook and continued to draw. A little bit after 12, and still nothing from Blaine, Kurt was concerned. What was going on with this boy? Did he just give the location of his bedroom to some kind of pervert _? Well_ , he was Rachel's brother after all, and Kurt happened to rather like Rachel, so he highly doubted her brother would be some creepy teenager who made a habit of stalking Kurt in the night. A few minutes later, Kurt heard the door to the basement open, and just as he started to really panic because who the _hell_ just did that, Blaine Anderson came sliding down the stairs on his behind as if he were 6 rather than 16. It seemed as if the Ander-Berry siblings made a habit of randomly making appearances in his room after all.

"Um, do I even have to ask what the hell you're doing here, Blaine."

"You kept on running out on me, so I had to come to a place where you'd have no escape."

Even in the middle of the night, Blaine thought Kurt looked adorable. He really hoped it wasn't weird for boys to think that about each other, but he couldn't help himself whenever he saw Kurt. He was dressed in silky blue pyjamas, and his hair was free of that stuff he used to keep it all nice and styled, so it was a little messy. All Blaine found himself wanting to do was reach out and run his hands through it. _Get a grip, Anderson_ , he thought. The younger teen suddenly felt very self-conscious in nothing but plaid pyjama pants and a hoodie from a surf shop back in California, with his curls free of any product. But to answer Kurt's question? Blaine had no idea what compelled him in the first place to sneak into his room at midnight. He barely even knew the guy for God's sakes, which made him realize that he was here for that purpose, to really get to know the other boy.

"Well, if I'm honest," Blaine started, "I'm here to get to know you. Also, why you seem to hate it so much when I'm in your presence."

"I thought _you_ hated me."

"Kurt, why would I hate you? I barely know you."

Kurt really didn't want to bring up the phone call, but he didn't have that much of a choice, since it was the answer to the other teen's question.

"B-because of the way I yelled at you on the phone."

"Oh, that." Blaine looked as if he were thinking for a moment, then went over and sat on the edge of Kurt's bed without being asked, but Kurt really didn't mind at all. "I don't think _hate_ would be a way to describe how I felt about that. Honestly? At first, I was a little upset, because you did interrupt me, but I guess you had good reason to. I'm definitely not mad about it, and there's no hard feelings on my end about it at all."

Kurt let out an audible sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Blaine let out a soft laugh, and Kurt almost choked on air. For fuck's sake, even this boy's laugh made him all bubbly inside.

"Wait," Blaine said, "is that why you ran off on me, twice?

"That wasn't the only reason." Kurt muttered quietly, embarrassed.

Blaine looked confused, but he didn't question it.

Kurt had referred to his sexuality in front of Rachel maybe one or twice, but wasn't sure if she passed that bit of information on to her younger brother. Blaine changed the topic before any further discussion though.

"So, Kurt Hummel, now that we've cleared the air about that, I'm rather intrigued on why my sister has taken such a liking to you, so tell me a few things about yourself."

Kurt couldn't hold it any longer, so he said what he'd been meaning to say this entire time.

"Why are you even talking to me in the first place? From what I've been told about you, don't you usually use this time to get like, laid or something? Why are you sneaking into my house just for a little _bro time_?" He hoped he didn't sound rude saying any of that, especially because of how weird the word _bro_ sounded coming out of his mouth. Kurt was just genuinely wondering. He noticed a visible change in the other boy's demeanour, and immediately regretted what he just said.

"I don't know, okay? I don't know why I've been feeling so _obligated_ to listen to you ever since that phone call, or why I felt the urge to come over and see you in the first place. I don't know why it's been exactly three weeks since we officially met, and I just can't go a single one of those days without thinking about you! I don't know, Kurt! I-I just don't."

Kurt was appalled by Blaine's words. He now knew that he was _definitely_ at risk for falling for this boy, and he needed to know everything that was going on in his life before fully committing to any romantic feelings again.

"Blaine, how about you start by telling me about yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah. I can do that."

He took a deep breath, and subconsciously ran a hand through his curls, which Kurt found rather adorable. Then he realized how utterly ridiculous it was to be thinking these kinds of things, seeing Blaine was about to start talking about his very heterosexual lifestyle.

"The first 11 years of my life were perfectly normal. Well, it depends on how you'd define normal, but I didn't really have any serious problems or anything to that extent. I had a mom and dad who loved me, and who I loved just as much. A little bit after my eleventh birthday, my dad sat my family down, and told us, completely out of nowhere, that he was gay. I knew what that word meant, seeing as I lived in California, and I'd see the occasional same sex couple out in public, so I asked my dad what two girls or two boys in a relationship are called, and he explained that word to me.

As far as I was concerned, there weren't really any obvious signs my dad was gay, because I believe he really did love my mom. She took the news pretty hard, and kicked him out of the house completely. I don't think she's necessarily homophobic per se, it just must've been a lot for her to take in. My dad ended up winning full custody of me in a legal battle, and my parents barely talk anymore. I, however, do stay in touch with my mom.

When I was twelve, my dad met Hiram Berry while him and I were shopping down in Beverly Hills, and the rest is history. They got married, and Rachel became my official step sister, but we decided to keep out last names, for, well, reasons."

"Wait a minute here, you mean to tell me you turned down the opportunity of becoming Blaine _Berry_? Oh. My. God." Kurt began to laugh, and not just a giggle, full blown laughter, solely at the thought of how ridiculous of a name Blaine Berry was.

"It isn't even that funny," Blaine whined, but secretly, he was _really_ enjoying the sounds of Kurt's laughter and how his face scrunched up adorably.

After Kurt had calmed down a little, he spoke next.

"Wait, Blaine Berry, I feel like you're missing out on a big part of your life story here."

"You're never going to live that down, are you?" Kurt shook his head and Blaine continued. "What part of my past have I neglected to mention, Kurt Hummel?"  
"How about the one that involves you and every girl in So Cal, oh, and let's not forget my _best friend_?"

Blaine felt a surge of guilt the moment Kurt even referred to him being involved with any girl, even if he'd said it in a teasing manner. He tried his best to ignore it, but that didn't work for very long as he began to tell Kurt about the part of his life he, for some reason, was beginning to dread.

"It all started when I was 14 I guess, the beginning of my high school career. I didn't let it show that much, but this whole thing with my parents left me feeling pretty alone. People would always ask me how I was handling it, and I'd tell them I was fine, or how happy I was that my dad was so brave, but I just had this feeling of emptiness building inside my chest. I really wanted somebody to actually take a good look at me and see that I really _wasn't_ as fine as I said I was, and while I was happy my dad found Hiram, everything just happened so quick and so sudden, I was overwhelmed.

Anyways, in ninth grade I met Angelica, a girl in a few of my classes. She was reasonably popular, and she was extremely pretty, but what mattered most was that she was a genuinely nice person. We went out the entire school year, and although the most sexual thing we did was make out, our relationship wasn't too bad if you ask me. As for filling that nagging feeling of emptiness? I would forget about it on occasion, but it never went away completely. Our relationship all came crashing and burning around June of that year, when I found out she had cheated on me by sucking off some guy named Chris in the woods behind her house. Very trashy, even for me. Anyways, I broke things off with Angelica right away, but that entire thing really fucked me up, you know? I barely left the house at all that summer, and it gave me serious trust issues. The one time I put my heart on the line, it gets broken."

"Blaine, I'm so so sorry." Kurt said, sounding genuine, since in a way, he was going through a similar situation

"Kurt, there's nothing for you to apologize for. Plus, this happened a long time ago, and I'm over it." He looked over at Kurt, and smiled.

"Okay, back to the story." Blaine continued. "When school started, I was desperate for somebody to take notice of me again, and to fill this full-on emptiness inside my chest. I started to see Angelica and Chris in the halls, showing a lot more PDA than I was comfortable with. So, I stopped caring. The girls in my school took notice of this, and they were all about it. We'd go on dates, but I'd never actually consider settling down with any of them. I'd go to their houses after the dates, but as for having actual sex? I'd never do it at that age, and especially not with a girl I barely even knew. I want my first time to be with somebody who I can love, and who loves me just as much in return, and not on some cheap sheets with the underlying fear their parents would walk in at any minute.

There were so many girls practically throwing themselves at me, and I loved the way all this attention made me feel. It drove Rachel up the wall though." He laughed to himself. "She was in a very serious relationship with this boy Jesse, so to see how her brother's love life couldn't have been any different from hers, well, it infuriated her."

"Can I ask you a serious question?"

"Kurt, isn't that what this _bro time_ is for?"

"Okay, well, did being with all these girls help that empty feeling?"

"You know what? If I'm honest, no. I've been doing a _lot_ of thinking these past few weeks, and it's occurring to me that even though I have nothing against girls, I find that getting intimate with them only made me feel shittier about myself. I thought it was making me happy, but I think I only loved the attention it was giving me. If I truly loved these girls, then why did I leave Quinn Fabray the first chance I got? Why have I had at least seven encounters since then with fairly attractive girls making googly eyes at me, or asking to exchange numbers, and I just shut them down?"

"Blaine, I'm going to cut you off right there and ask you an even more serious question. Have you ever been with a boy before?"

He was quite confused by Kurt's question, it was one of the last things he could've expected. Had he ever been with a boy? No. However, had he ever felt the way he feels around Kurt with a girl? No, not even with Angelica. That was the part that terrified him the most, because he was still quite unfamiliar with the boy sitting across from him, yet he felt like he'd known him forever.

Kurt sat there, frozen. He had turned a bright shade of pink, and just stared at Blaine, incredulous. _Oh fuck,_ Blaine thought. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck._ "I didn't happen to say that out loud, did I?"

Kurt could only nod.

"Well, isn't that just fucking splendid. Kurt, could you please start telling me about yourself before I actually die of embarrassment."

The older teen let out a small giggle, then immediately put on a serious face, ignoring how fast his heart was racing after Blaine's accidental confession.

"Fine, but we are definitely going to talk about this later, Blaine Berry."

It was Blaine's turn to laugh now. He rolled his eyes as well, but it was more affectionately than annoyed.

"Um, well, let's start with the basics. My mom died when I was eight years old, and she was kind of my rock." Blaine looked at him, and Kurt realized just how easy it was to read his emotions. His hazel eyes were focused on Kurt with what was complete and utter sympathy.

"You don't need to apologize for it or anything, because it happened a long time ago so I'm okay with it, in a way. I had a pretty good elementary school life, but middle school is where the teasing really started. People made fun of me mostly for being interested in things that were considered 'girly'. It didn't bother me, because I was just being _me_ , and I wasn't going to let the opinions of other's change that. I ended up meeting my best friend to this day, Mercedes Jones, in seventh grade. When I got to high school, Mercedes and I joined the Glee club in our sophomore years. We weren't the most popular, but we were just all one big family. Oh, and that's where I met Quinn, the one I yelled at you over."

"How could I forget." Blaine shuddered at the memory.

Kurt paused, knowing things were really going to start to get difficult. The other boy must've sensed his uneasiness, and he put a comforting hand over Kurt's, completely shocking them both. _Damn instincts_. Kurt was tense at first, but then he found himself relaxing under Blaine's grip.

"This past year is when my life took a turn for the worse. At the beginning of the year, my dad had a complete unprecedented heart attack one day at work. He ended up recovering just fine, but the whole thing left me really shaken up. By then, the small teasing had turned into full blown bullying, and I had started to let it get to me. I was just too tired of coming up with some snarky remark for everything or pretending like it didn't bother me in any way.

There was this one guy, Karofsky, who did everything to make my life a living hell. He was the worst of them all. He'd throw me into lockers, call me degrading names, until one day, when I followed him into the boy's locker room, he kissed me. It was my first real kiss, and it had been stolen." He felt Blaine visibly tense.

"By this time, I had gone over to spy on a school called Dalton Academy that our Glee club, New Directions was competing against for Sectionals. During my time there, I met a boy named Sebastian Smythe, and fell for him, hard. I was going through this rough patch, and he was like some sort of knight in shining armor." Kurt laughed, but it was cold and humorless.

"Anyways, Karofsky ended up threating to kill me if I ever told anybody about the kiss, and my dad found out about it, bringing it right to the school principal. The school district refused to expel him, only suspend him for a few weeks. I couldn't stay at McKinley, so my dad and his new wife, Carole, paid for my tuition to transfer over to Dalton. Every single day my feelings for Sebastian grew stronger, and he told me he felt the same way for me one day while I was at work.

We began dating, and everything seemed to feel right again. Unfortunately, that feeling was completely wrecked when the Warblers, the name of their show choir group, started rehearsing for Regionals, and Sebastian proposed to sing a duet with me. Being the newest and most unexperienced member in the group, this infuriated my teammates. They started to leave me out of everything, and talk shit about me behind my back. My boyfriend however, did nothing to defend me, so I tried to convince him to give my part to somebody else. Of course, he said no, and when Regionals came about, I fucked up the last note of my solo, which made the way the Warblers treated me become unbearable.

After three months, I called it quits with Sebastian when he threw me across a dorm room, and since it was too close to the end of the year to leave Dalton, I was stuck there, having to see his face around, every single day." He emphasized those last few words, and Blaine could sense the anger and hurt radiating off the other teen. "Just like your thing with Angelica, this really screwed me over too. It still is. I've barely left the house this entire summer, just to run in the mornings, and I was too scared to tell my friends until the day you first texted me, actually. I'm going to see a therapist to try to get my mental health back to the way it was, so I mean, I've taken a huge leap forward from where I was at the end of May."

It was then that Kurt looked over at Blaine. He looked enraged, like he wanted to pull a Finn Hudson and kick a chair or something. He took a very cautious breath before saying his next words.

"Kurt, please say you're lying to me about all this."

The older teen could do nothing but look at him, confused, _why would he do that_?

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Blaine removed his hand from Kurt's, and started to pace around the room.

"Blaine what's wron- "

"I think I'm gay, Kurt! It's occurring to me now that I have feelings for a boy, and that boy is you. No wonder I've been so drawn to you since we first met, or how I can't even begin to describe the way it made me feel when you started to talk about the way you were treated. Maybe the reason I don't feel fulfilled whenever I get it on with a girl is because I'm _not_ attracted to them the way I had convinced myself I was. Kurt, I think I want to be with you, but I don't want to fuck up any of this thing we're building, whatever it is. I'm a mess, and you're definitely not in the right state of mind to be hearing all this, but once you started talking, it just all kind of pieced together in my head."

Kurt looked taken aback, because really, this was a lot of information for somebody to take in. He didn't even know if Kurt reciprocated the feelings Blaine felt for him in the first place. He was probably going to seem like a total creep. Then, Kurt began to speak.

"Blaine, I hope you understand that I've been avoiding you not only because I was convinced you hated me after the call – "

"Can I just clarify that I had only been there for maybe fifteen minutes and all we had done was make out on her couch?"

Kurt chuckled. "Oh, thank god. I don't think I could've said what I'm about to say knowing you had gotten hot and heavy with my best friend. Anyways, I was also avoiding you because I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you that I was a goner. I definitely feel something for you, and I would love to be yours, but let's face it, as you said, we're both messes. For starters, I need you to come out to everyone you hold dear, at your own speed, and meet my family before we could date."

"Kurt if you think I would ever try to keep our relationship a secret in any way, you're wrong."

"Also, as much as I care about you, as you said, I'm in no place to be with anybody right now. If we were to begin a relationship right now, I'm positive it'd end in absolute heartbreak, and us both resenting each other. I need to wait until I'm ready, and I'm not saying you have to wait for me in return, but I think we both have our own issues to resolve before fully committing to each other."

"From what I've learned about you, there's no doubt in my mind that I'd wait for you to be ready. It would kill me to find out I'd rushed you into anything, or made you uncomfortable. You're completely right, we need our time, and I think we can grow as friends first before deciding we want to be together. Hell, I'm 16, you're 17, we have a whole year for us to decide on anything. If we decide we're better off staying friends, as much as I know it'd hurt me, I'd accept that if that's what you wanted. In the meantime, I can't wait to get to learn all the little quirks and habits that come with one Kurt Hummel."

Kurt blushed, and looked down at the ground, smiling. How was _this_ the same Blaine Anderson he met a few weeks ago? He glanced over at the clock on his nightstand, and saw it was almost one in the morning.

"Alright Blaine Berry, it's getting pretty late, and our little heart to heart has made me very sleepy. I suggest you get out of here before one of your parents, or that sister of yours wakes up and sends out an AMBER alert. Or even worse, my dad wakes up to find I have a boy in the basement."

"I'm not leaving until I get a goodnight hug."

"Isn't it supposed to be goodnight kiss?"

"Is your goal just to make things more complicated than they already are?"

They both laughed at that, and Kurt went across the room to stand face to face with Blaine before getting serious again.

"Is anybody in your family going to have an issue with you being attracted to boys?"

"I'm attracted to you, so technically it's _boy_. And, the only person I'd be wary of telling is my mom, for obvious reasons. You seem to forget that I have two gay dads, Kurt."

"Right. Well, you have my number, so text me when you get home so I know you're safe."

"I live right across the str – "

"Text me when you get home so I know you're safe. Alright, I'm about to give you your hug so prepare yourself." Blaine dramatically shifted on his feet and shook out his arms, inhaling deeply, earning a laugh from Kurt.

When the two of them made physical contact again, it just felt so _right_. They stood like that for a few minutes, wrapped in each other's embrace in the middle of Kurt's room at an ungodly hour. When they broke apart, Kurt timidly leaned back in and gave Blaine a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Um, Kurt? You missed."

"Don't flatter yourself."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

Giving Kurt, Quinn, and Mercedes the friendship they deserve one chapter at a time.

I'm trying to be witty with my author's notes because I keep on getting scared I'm missing all these errors but am too lazy to read my story for what feels like the 12032th time, so please accept these as an apology.

* * *

The next morning, Kurt was exhausted. He had been up way past dawn, just texting Blaine. The two boys had spent hours playing silly games like 20 questions, kiss, marry, kill, and would you rather. Looking past his tiredness however, Kurt felt a feeling coming from deep inside him of intense relief, like he'd been searching for someone like Blaine his entire life without even knowing. His first therapy session had been booked for the next Monday, and he was excited to finally get some help for all that he'd been through this past year. For once, he skipped his morning run since he had slept through his alarm, and decided to join his family for breakfast instead. They seemed to notice his chipper mood, and Burt broke silence first.

"Is there a reason you look so tired, yet happy at the same time?"

Kurt considered whether or not to tell his dad about Blaine. Then it occurred to him the only thing he really had to hide was that he snuck into his room last night, because the two of them were still just friends.

"I met Rachel's younger brother, Blaine. I really, really like him and we're becoming close. It's a little different to have a boy as a close friend, so it's got me excited."

"Honey, when you say you like him, do you mean you have a crush? Or is it just as friends?" Carole added to the conversation.

The blue-eyed teen just smiled but the blush his face so obviously displayed gave it all away.

"Oh, my God, Kurt! I'm so happy for you! Surely we'll have to meet him sometime soon." Burt nodded at that, not looking as excited as Carole. "Is he gay?"

"Well, that's where things get complicated, I guess. He actually has a history of being in relationships with other girls, but they never made him happy, if that makes any sense. When he moved here and we met, he developed feelings for me, but didn't realize that's what they were until him and I started talking."

Burt remained silent. He didn't know if he liked the sound of that. If there was one thing he never wanted again, it was a repeat of Sebastian. Carole was right, they needed to meet this Blaine kid so he could see for himself if this was any different. His wife was the one to speak next. "Oh, how cute. I'm so happy you've seemed to put this entire Sebastian thing behind you and move on."

 _Sebastian_. Kurt had been so distracted by everything going on, he had completely forgot about the Warbler since last night when he was talking about him to Blaine. Oh, God, now he was thinking about the Warblers too. He said this whole situation was starting to bother him less and less, which wasn't a lie, but this seemed to somehow set him off. He abruptly stood up from the table and ran downstairs, chest heaving as he locked himself in his bathroom. Kurt just sat there, tired of getting so worked up over the same thing, looking up at the ceiling, waiting for tears that never came.

* * *

There was something going on with her brother, and Rachel Berry was going to get to the bottom of it. She could swear on her first Tony nomination that she heard him leave the house in the middle of the night yesterday as the future Broadway star sat in bed, stalking various show choir blogs. The brunette didn't think too much of it, assuming he was just going out to see some girl, but when she went in his room this morning, and he seemed actually eager to be woken up, is when she knew that something was up. For starters, there's nothing Blaine Anderson hates more than waking up in the mornings, and he's never seemed _that_ positive after being with a girl.

As he helped her make their weekly all vegan breakfast for the family, aprons on as the two worked around the kitchen, Rachel decided that now was the time to begin the interrogation. But first, she had to address the bigger problem at hand.

"Blaine, how many times do I have to tell you _not_ to microwave ingredients in plastic bowls! Are you asking to get cancer?"

Normally he would've said something about how the only cancerous thing in the house was his sister's attitude, but instead, Blaine actually listened to her and put everything in glass bowls. Rachel automatically took that as a good sign.

"Okay B, let's cut the crap. Where did you go last night, and why are you in such good spirits about it today?"

Blaine literally dropped the whisk he was holding, letting out a few choice words.

"I thought I left by the time everyone had fallen asleep."

"Do you really think I fall asleep before you? I'm a year older for God's sakes. Now that we're on this topic of discussion, I have heard _unspeakable_ things coming from your bedroom so please keep it down."

"Yeah? Well at least I don't spend half the night belting out various show tunes and keeping the whole house awake."

"There's _never_ a wrong time to hear me sing."

"Whatever you say, Rach."

The step siblings often bickered like this, but it was all harmless banter. The two of them went back to Blaine cooking pancakes, and Rachel making everything else. After a few minutes, the elder Ander-Berry realized something her brother had avoided.

"You still never answered my question, Blaine."

He turned to look at his sister with an expression that was total seriousness, which got Rachel's attention. She stopped what she was doing and put her full attention on Blaine.

"I'm about to tell you something that you can't tell dads just yet. I don't think I'm ready to announce it to the world at the moment, so for now, it'll just be between us. Got it?"

Rachel nodded, but she was confused as to what she was agreeing to.

"Last night, I went to see Kurt. I have kinda been obsessed with him these past few weeks - "

"I noticed." The brunette cut in, but her brother pretended not to hear.

"So, in the least stalkerish way possible, I snuck into his room. Shit, I didn't not mean for that to come out that way. He was still awake, and gave me permission to come over, well, sort of. Anyways, we got to talking, and I realized that this weird obsession I had for him was actually me being oblivious to how I was falling for him. Hearing him talk about his life made me realize that I definitely have those kinds of feelings for him, and then I came to terms with the fact that I am indeed gay."

Rachel looked at the other teen for a few minutes, as if she was studying him to see if this was just another lie, but then she started grinning like a maniac, and wrapped her brother in an impossibly tight hug.

"Blaine, I think this is the best thing I have ever heard you say since we met! Don't you understand, this is all I've ever wanted for you, to settle down with somebody you care about! Did you think it mattered to me if they were a girl or boy? Of course not! I just want you to be happy. And Kurt, this is too cute! My two favourite boys, falling in love."

Honestly, Blaine wasn't surprised by Rachel's reaction, it was exactly what he had expected. Luckily, he had planned on what to say in return.

"Alright calm down sis, I think 'falling in love' is taking it too far. Kurt and I are taking it slow, since we both have our own issues to figure out. You're right on the caring part, as I do care about him, so much. I'm starting to figure out what it feels like to be truly happy again. I knew you wouldn't have an issue with me being gay, and I'm positive our dads won't either. It's just weird, you know? I've spent the past 16 years of my life only focusing on females, to suddenly switch my perspectives entirely is a lot. I'm doing things at my own speed, like Kurt had suggested."

His sister was in awe of what seemed to be a new side of her baby brother. It reminded her a lot of the one she had been trying so desperately to get back ever since last August. She couldn't help but hug Blaine again, then they both parted ways in their rather big kitchen and continued to cook breakfast.

After the two step siblings made sure their dads were taking over dish duty, Blaine and Rachel both headed off to their respected rooms. The younger of the two picked up his phone, and decided to call up Kurt, to tell him about how he'd come out to Rachel. Kurt didn't answer his phone, which Blaine didn't think too much of, considering how tired he was from last night, the other teen was probably logical enough to sleep in.

Around 9:45 am, Blaine tried Kurt's number again, and he picked up after two rings.

"Kurt, hi! Big news, Rachel heard me sneak out last night, meaning she was full of questions this morning, and I ended up telling her everything, and she now knows I'm gay. Her reaction was great!"

"Good for you." Was all Kurt said, and Blaine could immediately tell something was wrong. His heart sank in his chest, wondering if Kurt was mad at him, so he immediately wracked his mind of all the interactions the two of them had, and if Blaine had screwed any of them up in any way. Then he decided to ask was better than torturing himself with his thoughts.

"Is something wrong? Did _I_ do something wrong?"

"No! You didn't do anything wrong, Blaine. It's just been a shitty morning, that's all."

"Want to talk about it?"

"There isn't really that much to say, it was something stupid really. I was telling my dad and Carole about you this morning, and they brought up the Warblers and Sebastian, two things I had momentarily forgotten about. It just sort of made me upset, I guess."

"Kurt, I just want you to know that this'll get better over time, as cheesy as it sounds, it's true. You've been so strong lately, and I understand how exhausting that can be, but you've got to hold on to that feeling that it will all turn out okay sometime soon."

"God, Blaine, you always seem to know what to say."

"I wouldn't count on it"

Kurt chuckled, and the sound alone made Blaine smile. Then he heard a knock on his bedroom, and there was Rachel, barging in.

"Is that Kurt? Who am I kidding, of course it is! Tell him I'm planning a sleepover for him and I tomorrow night. Oh! And to bring those two girl friends of his he's always going on about, I want to meet them."

Blaine relayed the information over to Kurt, then felt a surge of happiness bubbling in his chest at the idea that Kurt was in a good mood because of it. It was almost as if the two were connected, in some way.

* * *

When Friday evening rolled around, Kurt made sure his room was all nice and neat for the girls. Kurt and Rachel had arranged to have their sleepover at his house, because they knew there was a less likely chance Blaine would try to crash their party. However, the dark-haired boy had gone to great lengths begging Rachel all day yesterday to have it at their house so he could see Kurt for the full night, but she refused, stating that having lady chat about him while he was around wouldn't be as fun. Quinn and Mercedes had hopped right on board to the idea of not only all hanging out again, but getting to meet Rachel as well. He could hope they'd have a great night together.

* * *

"Blaine, I know what you're doing."

"I don't know what you're talking about"

Rachel rolled her eyes at her utterly ridiculous brother, who had insisted on walking her to the door of the Hummel-Hudson household. It was so obvious he was just doing it in hopes to see Kurt, but the two of them were definitely surprised when Burt Hummel answered the door. Blaine visibly swallowed.

"Oh, hello Rachel. Come on in, Kurt's downstairs."

The brunette did as she was told, hoping to escape this rather intimidating man. Once his sister wasn't by his side anymore, Blaine quickly turned around and started to walk down the front porch, only to be cut off by;

"Hey, where do you think you're going, kiddo? Get back up here."

Blaine started to sweat. He was terrified. He wasn't the most put together around adults, and often got very socially awkward around them. The logical side of him knew exactly what Kurt's dad was going to ask him, and if he just answered honestly, he'd be fine. However, the only thing he could think of at the moment was how sweaty his palms had suddenly become.

"I take it that you're the Blaine my son was fawning over yesterday at breakfast?"

He nodded.

"The Blaine with a history of girls, yet who claims to have feelings for my son?"

He nodded again. _Damnit, Blaine, say something._

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm not entirely sure if I believe this whole thing after what happened last time with that Sebastian kid. Kurt hasn't been himself for quite a while now, and suddenly, he's starting to go back to the way he was, claiming it's because of you. I need your side of the story before I decide on how I really feel about this whole thing, Blaine."

That was all it took for the words to just start flowing out of Blaine.

"Mr. Hummel, if I'm honest, I'm pretty imperfect. I've failed classes, failed friendships, failed singing competitions, heck, I've even failed cooking a grilled cheese sandwich for myself." Blaine was quite proud of himself, for avoiding using the word _hell_ back there, especially in front of his crush's father. "Losing out on those things didn't really have any sort of detrimental effect on who I am, because I always knew I'd get a second chance one day. When it comes to Kurt, everything is the complete opposite. If I were to somehow screw up what I'm building with him, I'd be wrecked. I've known him for so little time, yet he means so much to me. When I hear his voice, or see a notification on my phone pop up with his name, all I can do is smile. This is all so crazy and foreign to me, and I'm trying to sort everything out in my own life, but the minute I see his face, all my worries seem to vanish. The fact that I could even be compared to Sebastian, repulses me. It makes me physically sick, because that is the last thing I'd want to be remembered as in your son's life."

Even though his speech got pretty cheesy after the first few sentences, Burt was genuinely moved by what Blaine had said. When he first laid eyes on the teen, he had watched move into his house a few weeks ago, now dressed in a green hoodie that matched his eyes, light blue skinny jeans, and clad in a pair of brown circle glasses, curls wilder than all get out, the last thing he had been expecting was anything more than a sentence from him in response to the request. He was already starting to take a liking to this kid, sensing that he was a lot like Kurt, yet completely different at the same time, in a sense that they were both passionate about what they cared about, and full of witty remarks. Burt then realized that he hadn't said anything in response to Blaine yet, who was probably as scared as the innocent shoppers who had to face his own son on Black Friday.

"Alright son, I'll set you free. Thank you for that."

Blaine huffed a sigh of relief that he hadn't intended to be out loud. Burt chuckled behind him as he ran down the steps two at a time and across the street back to his own house.

* * *

 _Somebody really needs to teach her the basic laws of fashion._ Was all Kurt could think when Rachel came running down his stairs in a striped t shirt and pyjama pants with little kittens all over them. She was carrying a ball of something red in her hands, but Rachel threw her stuff to the floor and began talking before Kurt could examine it better. It did seem familiar to him, though.

"Oh, my god, Kurt. Blaine wanted to walk me over, hoping he'd get to see you instead, but your _dad_ answered the door instead! He's definitely giving my brother a lecture right now! This is golden."

Kurt laughed, just picturing how awkward of a conversation that'd be. He was curious as to what his dad would ask, but even more so as to what Blaine would say. The blue-eyed teen just decided that when the girls made him do the inevitable and Skype Blaine after he told them about him, he'd just ask his friend then.

"Also," Rachel began, suddenly remembering about what she dropped on the floor earlier. "This is for you. My brother wanted you to have this, not entirely sure why though."

That red ball ended up being the hoodie Blaine had worn that time he snuck into Kurt's room. Rachel handed it over to him, and he blushed as his heart started to race. Kurt threw it on over the white v neck t shirt he had been wearing, and considering it a small victory that it went along with the gray pyjama pants he wore. It had also been a little big on Blaine, so it ended up fitting Kurt perfectly, bringing yet another victory. He lifted one of the sleeves to his nose, and the sweater smelled like raspberry scented hair gel and coffee, a scent that was unmistakably _Blaine_. The teen smiled to himself, almost forgetting Rachel was there until she spoke again.

"When you're done fondling that sweater, let me know if you want me to go answer the doorbell that just rang, because I heard your parents say they were leaving a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Kurt replied, still in a slight haze.

When Rachel opened the door, she was greeted by two girls who must've been Quinn and Mercedes. One of them was who she decided was the prettiest girl she'd ever seen, with blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail, and hazel eyes. It didn't take long for her to realize that this must've been the girl Blaine had gone over to see, because he didn't peg Mercedes as the type to approach random strangers in public, not that she wasn't beautiful as well. The dark-skinned teen had a very friendly aura around her, yet Rachel knew how to detect divas, and this girl was one. She had lovely dark eyes and long dark hair as well. Both were wearing pyjamas, and they each had overnight bags slung over their shoulders. There was only one car in the driveway so they carpooled, and Rachel had not prepared to meet both of them at once. Honestly, she was a little nervous. She didn't want to screw up in front of Kurt's best friends.

"Hi! Quinn, Mercedes, I'm Rachel." She smiled at the girls, trying to be as friendly as possible.

"Hey girl!" Mercedes replied. "Why don't you take us downstairs and we can talk a little bit more. How's Kurt doing?"

"He's doing great! Prepare yourselves though, because a certain boy has entered his life."

Quinn and Mercedes both gave each other a rather puzzled look, then concluded that they'd just hound Kurt for information when they saw him. The pair followed Rachel to the basement where Kurt laid on his bed in a hoodie that they all very well knew wasn't his.

"Alright, Hummel. Spill." Quinn demanded.

"Hello ladies, I'm taking it Rachel couldn't keep quiet long enough about Blaine?"

" _Blaine Anderson?_ " Quinn and Mercedes both questioned at once, sounding astonished.

Kurt nodded, and the all three girls got situated on his bed, getting ready to hear the story.

"Well, Quinn, Mercedes, when I last saw you, I swear to God there was nothing going on between us. I was completely honest about everything I said. Right after you left my house last week, I got a text from Rachel saying Blaine had been hounding her all day, trying to get my phone number for some reason, and if she had my permission to do so."

"It's true, he wouldn't leave me alone." Rachel said.

"Why were you with Blaine in the first place?" Mercedes asked.

"Kurt didn't tell you? He's my brother." Rachel said.

"Oh, my God! This is so good." Mercedes yelled.

"Anyways," Kurt interjected. "I let curiosity get the best of me, and decided that Rachel could give him my number. He didn't end up texting me until two days ago, weirdly asking if my room was downstairs. I was very confused, but I answered him anyways, and an hour later he had snuck into my room." Quinn and Mercedes' eyes went wide, and Rachel wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Guys! Nothing happened. Wait, I mean, like, nothing sexual. We talked, and I really got to know him. I told him all about myself, and suddenly he told me he was gay. Not only gay, but he had feelings for _me_. Trust me, I was just as shocked as you are. By this time, I had come to terms with the fact that I was definitely crushing on him in return, but we both aren't ready to be in a relationship just yet. We agreed to sort out our own issues, and respect the other's needs, and work towards being together so when it does happen, we'll be as strong as ever."

"Somebody's definitely changed their tune." Quinn said with a wink.

"Okay, he lives right across the street, right?" Mercedes asked.

"Um, yeah."

"Get him over here! Not for the night obviously, but I want to meet this Blaine that everybody is so involved with but me."

"I wouldn't say I'm _involved_ with him, Mercedes." Quinn stated.

Kurt thought about what Mercedes had said. Having Blaine in the room was the main reason they were even at Kurt's house in the first place, but if his friend wanted him here, then that was the only push he needed.

"Are you sure you want him to come over?"

"If I wasn't, then I wouldn't have asked, silly."

"What if it gets awkward between him and Quinn?" Rachel asked.

"There's not really much for things to get _awkward_ over. Plus, I'm going to have to meet him eventually, so why not now?"

"Good point. I'll call him now."

"Put it on speaker!" Kurt yelled.

Rachel dialed his number, and he picked up after a few rings.

"Go away Rachel, I'm jerking off."

Kurt turned beet read, while the girls could just stare at the phone as if Blaine could actually see them. Rachel however, seemed used to this happening, and very calmly said;

"Blaine, you're on speaker phone."

"Fuck."  
Everyone in the room burst out laughing. Mercedes had tears in her eyes, knowing this boy was going to be quite the handful.

"If you aren't too preoccupied, everyone wants you over here so they can meet you. Before you ask, we aren't giving you any alone time with Kurt."

They heard a lot of rustling, then what was unmistakably a door open.

"I'm on my way! But I'm going to ignore that last thing you said." Blaine said, and then hung up.

Seconds later, the girls and Kurt heard the front door close, and suddenly, Blaine was in the room with them. His face visibly lit up when he saw Kurt, and the other teen's face did as well. Quinn noticed this right away, and couldn't help herself from smiling. Blaine then went and sat next to Kurt on the bed, and placed his hand over his.

"Hi." Blaine said.

"Hi."

"Have I seen that sweater before?"

"Don't know, some cute boy from across the street gave it to me."

"I'll have to have a little chat with him if he thinks he can give his clothes to you."

Kurt giggled, and Blaine smiled at him. He was so in love with that laugh. _Holy shit, three days in and he could already say he was in love with little parts of this boy_.

"Since when did you wear glasses?"

"Since always, I just wear contacts during the daytime."

"You weren't wearing them when you snuck in here at 12am."

"Yes, because I knew I had someone to impress."

Little did Blaine know that those glasses were doing a _lot_ for Kurt down south. Having heard enough of their sickening back and forth, Rachel loudly cleared her throat, earning a very dramatic eye roll from Blaine. He then must've remembered that he was meeting Kurt's best friends for the first time, having completely forgotten they were there.

"Um, hello ladies, I'm Blaine." He said, trying to compose himself.

"We know who you are." Quinn said.

"Hey, Quinn. I really don't want things to be awkward between us, since I plan on being around for a very long time. Is there anything I can do to make that happen?"

"Blaine, all we did was make out. It could've been a lot worse, oh and just so you know, Kurt, he's a _wonderful_ kisser."

"That's true." He smiled at her, happy to have cleared that tension, watching as Kurt buried his head in his hands next to him.

"And you're Mercedes, right?"

"Yeah. Just know that if you do a single thing to hurt my boy Kurt, I will hunt you down and ship you out of the country, got it?"

"I think Papa Hummel will definitely beat you to that."

"Speaking of," Kurt cut in. "How did that go?"

"It went pretty well, actually. He asked to hear my side of things, and I told him the truth. Simple, really."

"That's good, I'm proud." The two boys smiled at each other.

"Alright B, you've met everyone, now get out of here before we lose Kurt completely." Rachel ordered.

"He can stay a little longer." Kurt quickly cut in;

"What time is it?"

"10:22." Quinn replied, checking her phone.

"Alright, I'll be out of here by 12."

Rachel looked annoyed, but at least she only had to put up with Blaine here for another hour and a half. "Fine. But you can only stay if you're willing to participate in giving Mercedes a makeover."

* * *

Needless to say, Blaine Anderson ended up being a pro at hair braiding. Everybody was shocked, wondering where he ever could've learned a skill like _that_. He had done all the girls' hair in cute little French braids, and they loved it. Watching Blaine put so much effort into getting the hairstyles right really had Kurt thinking. He had a quick vision in his head of Blaine as a father, making sure their little girl's hair was at its best quality every day before sending her off to school. Then he chided himself, wondering why he was thinking about the prospect of having children with a boy he had known for under two weeks.

The clock read 11:47, and everyone was scattered around the room, watching a rerun of _Gilmore Girls_ on the TV. Kurt and Blaine were at their usual spot on the former's bed, the only difference being that Blaine had fallen asleep fifteen minutes ago, with his head resting on Kurt's shoulders and their hands connected on Blaine's thigh. The brunette couldn't help but tilt his head at an awkward angle to stare at how cute Blaine looked when he slept, nuzzling his head into those curls of his. Quinn and Mercedes were making heart eyes at the two from where they sat on the couch, and Rachel reminded Kurt that Blaine needed to be home in just over ten minutes.

"Rachel, I'll wake him up then. For now, I'll just let him sleep." He bit back.

About five minutes had gone by when Blaine, still very much asleep and cuddling with Kurt, broke the silence by muttering loud enough for everyone to hear;

"I've been looking for you forever."

The entire room froze. They all turned to Kurt, who looked just as surprised as they did, then at once, the girls started to squeal at the sheer adorableness of it all, waking Blaine up. He rubbed his eyes, looked around the room, then fell back asleep on Kurt's shoulder. This wouldn't suffice though, seeing as it was 11:55 already, so Kurt had to wake his sleepy friend up for real.

"Kurt just so you know Blaine _hates_ being woken up. He's a huge sleepy head." Good thing Kurt had already planned on what to do to if that was an issue.

He sat up from where he and the curly haired teen were leaning against the headboard, thus making Blaine topple over onto his side. Quinn snickered from across the room. Blaine woke up instantly, feeling pretty disheveled, pushing his glasses back up his nose and pulling up his hood so his curls were a little less wild, but missing the warmth of Kurt's body already.

"Good morning, sunshine." Kurt teased, watching as Blaine stretched his arms and rolled his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asked, his voice hoarse from sleeping.

Kurt could totally get used to this side of Blaine. _Fuck, time and place, Kurt. You can't be thinking these thoughts with three teenage girls in the room._

"Almost 12, go back home, Blaine." Rachel responded, eager for him to leave.

"Wait! Before he leaves, I need to show him something Tina sent me last year. I can't believe I forgot to mention it." Mercedes interjected, patting an empty spot on the couch for Blaine.

Intrigued, he went over at sat down next to the girl, glancing over at Kurt to see if he knew what this was all about. The elder teen looked positively confused.

Mercedes went through the camera roll on her phone until she found what she'd been looking for. When Quinn saw the video she clicked on, the girl burst out laughing, and gave up her spot to Rachel so she could watch it too.

"Mercedes, what is this all about?" Kurt piped up from where he was, back to laying on his bed.

She didn't even need to answer him, because when Kurt heard the introduction to Beyoncé's _Single Ladies_ start playing, he was over there like a shot, trying to pry the phone from her hands.

"Kurt, no!" Rachel shouted.

"I can't be here." He announced, before walking up the stairs and into the living room.

* * *

Blaine had never been more turned on his life. He literally had to pull his hoodie down over his jeans to hide his growing _problem_. Kurt wearing a tight leotard and dancing around his room? This _very_ room Blaine just happened to be in? Sign him up. Kurt was _so fucking_ _sexy_ , rotating his hips and doing the cutest little dance moves, Blaine couldn't even begin to fathom why of all people, this boy had chosen to take a liking to somebody like him. His sister was laughing her ass off, but Blaine _definitely_ did not find this funny. He wanted to watch this video every morning when he woke up and every night before he fell asleep, just so he could imagine all the things he could do to the boy on the screen. It was going to drive him literally crazy knowing that Kurt wasn't officially his yet, and he could very well decide he was done with Blaine before he even got to "put a ring on it", like the song said. Jeez, he was thinking about marriage. With a boy he'd known for a week.

The video ended far too soon for Blaine's liking, and he got kicked out of the house by Rachel before he could even react. The teen adjusted his sweater, and subtly put his hands over his groin area, making his way upstairs. Kurt was seated on the couch, and was pouting in the most adorable way Blaine had ever seen. He stood up and began rambling when he saw his friend come up the stairs.

"Blaine, oh my god, I'm so sorry. I can't believe she even _has_ that video, much less showed it to you. I can't remember the last time I was this – "

Blaine put his face up as close to Kurt's as he could get, almost as if he were going to kiss him, but instead said;

"That was _fucking_ hot Kurt." He was literally _growling._ "You don't even know the things I'd be doing to you if you were mine right now. Make sure Mercedes sends that to me if she knows what's good for her."

Blaine brushed up against Kurt, connecting his blatantly obvious arousal with the other's leg. The blue-eyed teen felt his entire face flush, and stuttered, not even able to form a full sentence. Blaine bit his lips at the slight friction, winked, and was out the door, very pleased with himself.

It took quite a while for Kurt to compose himself and go back downstairs after that.

* * *

All in all, the group of teens had a really good night together. The girls seemed to rather like Blaine, and were fully supportive of what him and Kurt were working towards. Quinn took a strong liking towards Rachel, a friendship nobody could've really predicted. Burt and Carole arrived home towards 1, saying they had gone on a little date, and to keep it down. The only time there any tension between anybody was when they began singing Broadway showstoppers, and Rachel and Mercedes had a little bit of a showdown for who was going to sing the Joanne part opposite Quinn's Maureen in _Rent_ 's Take Me or Leave Me. Mercedes won, after they settled on doing rock, paper scissors, but Rachel got her chance to shine when she sang Maybe This Time from _Cabaret_.

They got to talking about New Directions, and how Rachel was for sure joining when the school year started. Quinn had asked if Blaine could sing, in which Rachel responded yes, and he also plays a few instruments, Kurt making a mental note of asking Blaine about it later. He was beyond elated that everything had gone smoothly, and couldn't wait to see where the future was headed.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

I _almost_ included the words "painted on" to describe Kurt's jeans, you're welcome from refraining. I'm only noticing now how fluffy and nice this chapter is, enjoy it while it lasts xx

* * *

Kurt had had a great first therapy session. His therapist was an brunette lady in her mid-thirties named Stevie McVie. She had genuinely listened to him as he ranted, and comforted him when he ended up shedding a few tears. Stevie gave him lots of advice, and reassured Kurt that just like any other traumatizing situation, it'd get better over time, and he should never be ashamed of getting upset over it. The things she told him reminded Kurt a lot of the advice he'd gotten from Blaine, but it was nice to be able to tell all your problems to somebody who wouldn't ever judge you. He had turned down any offer for medication, because even though he knew he wasn't the most stable, Kurt believed her when she said he'd get better himself.

When the teen called Blaine to tell him the news, the other boy was thrilled. He insisted on having Kurt over to his house, only to have Rachel crash their party as soon as he knocked on their door. The blue-eyed teen loved Rachel to death already, but he had been sincerely hoping for some alone time with Blaine. The three stayed in the living room and mostly talked, until Rachel put on _Funny Girl_ , and they had to put up with the elder Ander-Berry singing along to every song. As much as the boys wanted to be as close as possible, they had silently agreed to sit in different chairs, just because it'd be better for them. Blaine still wasn't out to his dads, and he didn't want them to find out by walking in on their son curled up around another boy who he wasn't even dating yet. The most they could do was occasionally look over at the other and smile. So much for that.

* * *

About five days later, on July 21st, Blaine had come out to his dads, and Mercedes left for her trip to Illinois. There wasn't much for Blaine to really tell Kurt about that experience, because, well, _he had two dads_. The younger boy was still feeling very anxious about telling his mom, and Kurt was so patient with him about it, so he knew he didn't have to do it right away. The thing is, Blaine _really_ wanted to be with Kurt, and every day he wasted by wallowing in his own anxiety about things, made him resent himself even more. Blaine had however, noticed a vast change from the boy who had ran away from him minutes after they met, and he was so proud of Kurt for coming so far. He was seeing his therapist bi weekly, and it was really helping him. Thing is, Blaine didn't want to wait any longer. Kurt was just so _sexy_ without even realizing, and he had these little things that each time he'd unknowingly do, Blaine would have to physically refrain himself from pouncing over the table or couch they happened to be sitting at, and kissing the other boy senseless. So, Blaine ended up deciding that he was going to come out to his mom on August 1st, and snatch that Hummel boy right up before all the thirsty whores at school could get to him first.

* * *

She was doing the finishing touches on her hair when there was a knock at the door. Rachel Berry sprinted down the stairs, mentally praising herself for proposing a dinner with the Hummel's last week, so everybody could truly meet. It was hard to hear herself think over how loud her brother was playing some Katy Perry song over on their piano, but she put on her brightest smile as she pulled the door open. There stood Burt and Carole, who immediately pulled Rachel into a hug. The brunette automatically felt that sense of longing she got whenever some kind of motherly affection was shown towards her, but it was overshadowed by the fact that her best friend's step mom cared about her enough to even hug her in the first place.

"Where's Kurt?" Rachel asked, as she pulled away from Carole's grasp.

"He's still getting ready. Can't figure out to wear, or which hairstyle he should do." She said, with a roll of her eyes. "He's so nervous about this, and trying to look good in front of Blaine, who I'm assuming is the one singing, I think that's _Teenage Dream,_ in the other room?"

"Yeah, that's him. He's weirdly obsessed with Katy Perry and this song. I hear him practicing it at least five times a day."

Burt Hummel looked thoroughly impressed. _This kid has some talent, almost as good as my son_ , he thought. Blaine looked to enthralled in the music he was playing, so he probably didn't even hear the guests come in. Burt used this opportunity to walk over and pat the boy's shoulder, laughing at how he practically jumped three feet in the air. His face turned bright red, and he nervously said a hello to Mr. Hummel.

This looked a lot unlike the Blaine he saw moving in a while ago. Having ditched the bomber jacket and skinny jeans, Blaine was now dressed in a white button down shirt, tucked into a pair of beige Khakis, with a baby blue bowtie around his neck. He had cut his hair, once absolutely wild curls were now pretty short, and he had put a bit more gel in his hair than usual. It was almost as the Blaine he first saw was just a mask, and this was the real Blaine, which had come to light of Kurt. This alone made Burt Hummel see that whatever was going on between these two boys, was obviously helping them both mentally and physically.

He then realized that he'd been sort of staring at the 16-year-old for a few minutes, so he just responded with a curt "Blaine.", and went to sit down at the nicely set table as the other continued to play his song.

* * *

There are a lot of things Kurt Hummel would gladly forget, but the first time he heard Blaine Anderson sing was not one of them. When he arrived at their house, the first thing he heard was muffled piano coming through the door. Rachel had been the first to greet him, eager to see Kurt, but he couldn't even hear a word she was saying as he was completely drawn to the sound of her brother's voice.

He should've been laughing at the ridiculousness of his song choice, but there was nothing funny about the way Blaine looked so at peace with himself, and so emotionally devoted to the words he sang and the keys he played. Kurt then noticed that Blaine had dressed in a way that was what he'd describe as _preppy_ and he found himself frozen on the front porch of the household. _Is this really happening? If this is another one of those dreams like the one I had of him bent over a desk at school, I will_ throttle _somebody._

Rachel, hating to break the love fest going on here, but had no choice because Kurt was going to start drooling on their front porch _and_ let mosquitos in, cleared her throat and spoke as loud as she could.

"Oh, my god, Kurt! You're here!"

Blaine stopped playing immediately, and visibly cringed. He needed to stop looking like an idiot in front of the Hummel's. The teen looked over at his sister, who only smiled and winked at him, which he returned with a look telling her she was dead meat. Then he saw Kurt. Wearing an impossibly tight pair of navy skinny jeans with a red and white striped sweater. He looked impossibly gorgeous, even dressed in something so simple. His face was completely flushed however, and he couldn't look away from Blaine. Aware that all their parents could clearly see the boys, Blaine broke the ice for the both of them. "Like my singing?"

"I-I," Kurt stammered, only resulting in a chuckle from Blaine.

"C'mere." He said, wrapping the taller boy in a hug, resting his head on his shoulder so his smile could be clearly broadcasted to everyone in the room. Kurt smelled amazing, like vanilla and sunshine.

"I missed you."

"Blaine, I was here yesterday. We've called twice since."

"Details, details." He said, annoyed, now earning a giggle from Kurt this time.

Having forgotten all their parents were in the room, and very clearly listening, the two boys broke apart, and made their way over to the table, where Blaine's biological father was setting the main course in the center.

* * *

Everyone was reluctant to say goodbye, which was a great sign for both families. They had bonded flawlessly, and Kurt's dad was taking a serious liking to Blaine, after he found out he loved sports, and frequently boxed and played on a baseball team back in California. The families laughed when Blaine choked on his drink after Burt Hummel mentioned his gun collection, and Kurt was elated to see everyone getting along so harmoniously. He had been a little nervous in front of Blaine's dads, now that it was common knowledge their son was going to soon be in a relationship with the man across the table from them. Turns out he had nothing to fear, since all they did was embarrass Blaine by telling little things about him in his youth, and Kurt was almost in tears laughing by the end of the night.

Blaine was not the luckiest man tonight, but he was just so beyond happy to not only be with Kurt, but have his parents like him too. He hadn't truly felt comfortable with who he was for these past few years, but ever since moving to Lima, he'd really started to see more of _himself_ in the things he did and the way he acted. It was so nice to feel at home in your own skin again.

* * *

It was almost 1 in the morning now, and Blaine Anderson was still wide awake. He knew it was because he drank a full cup of coffee an hour ago, a choice one might consider as poor on his behalf, but he had been practically bouncing off the walls with delight over the call he had just had with his best friend back in LA. Nick Duval had been his ride or die, his main bro. Brushing aside the fact that they scored tons of chicks together, an aspect of his life that was beginning to make him visibly cringe, they had been there for each other constantly.

The two boys shared what Nick referred to as a "Bronnection" which was a combination of the words _bro_ and _connection_ , very similar to twin telepathy. This was the only real friend Blaine had back on the West Coast, and they called once a week.

What made tonight different was Blaine had told Nick about Kurt, after the boy had begged him for answers about why he's been sensing uncontrollable amounts of joy radiating from him. If Blaine was honest, he'd have to admit that just like with anyone else, he had been initially terrified of his friend's reaction to him coming out. Especially after the amount of times Blaine had been caught getting dirty with some random girl from school. In the end, Nick was thrilled for Blaine, like he should've been, that he's finally, genuinely happy.

They had talked a little longer about their lives after that. As much as he cared about Kurt, it was nice to have someone different to talk to occasionally for a change.

Now, Blaine sat on the living room sofa, scrolling through his Instagram feed and squinting about how bright his screen was in the darkness. He automatically smiled whenever a photo from Kurt's profile came up. This time it was a picture of the record he had for Katy Perry's _Teenage Dream_ , with the caption, "No regrets, just love". Blaine made sure to comment a heart on that photo, because his own was beating rather fast after seeing that picture.

The two had exchanged social medias the day they first met. It was one of the 20 questions Kurt had asked Blaine. They now had each other's Instagram and Snapchat accounts, which they kept up with regularly. Kurt put a lot of effort into his social media, was Blaine's first observation that day. All his photos we're incredibly artistic looking, and all looked great together. He had a couple hundred followers, but not a drastic amount or anything. Kurt also had quite the fan base, because whenever he'd post a selfie, which wasn't very often, comments would start pouring in from the girls in Glee. The two boys talked a lot more on Snapchat than Instagram, mainly because they loved seeing the other's face as much as they could. They'd send the silliest pictures to each other, and Blaine had a habit of sending Kurt videos of him scaring Rachel as she did vocal runs in the bathroom.

Blaine's social medias on the other hand, weren't as nice. He had almost a thousand Instagram followers, but it didn't matter to him because most of them were just fake friends and girls from California. He used his Instagram to post photos of him and his family, friends, and newly, Kurt. He'd lost a few followers after the first photo went up, captioned with the date they first met, and all he could do was roll his eyes at the desperate bitches back in Cali. Blaine usually got a lot of comments on his posts, and they were mostly people he didn't even know telling him he looked hot, and it made him uncomfortable. Rachel pretty much policed his account though, because she thought she was superior than him because of her age, just like in any other situation.

Speak of the devil, it was around that time that Blaine heard somebody pattering down the stairs, and in popped his sister. She had her hair in a messy bun, and wore the most uncoordinated pyjamas he'd ever seen. He had to look away, but lucky for him, she began to speak. "Can't sleep?"

"Don't know, I'm just not very tired. Can you?"

"I was sleeping for a while, but I usually wake up around this time to either go to the bathroom or get something to drink."

"Oh, want to sit for a little?" Blaine was shocked by his own words, but he definitely didn't regret them. He did love his step sister, even though he wasn't really the most obvious about it.

Rachel beamed, "Sure."

She went over to the chair opposite her brother, and noticed he was wearing sweatpants that weren't his, because they we're obviously too big for him. She wiggled her eyebrows at him until he noticed her staring, then bashfully looked down at the ground.

"Want to put on a chick flick?"

"Rach, you would catch me dead before you'd catch me watching a _chick flick._ " Blaine replied, emphasizing his disgust on those last words.

"Well, you find them boring, so I mean, it's unlikely you'll stay up the whole movie, thus solving the problem of not sleeping."

She had a point.

"I never said I couldn't sleep, Rachel."

"Details, details." She said, repeating his exact same words from earlier with a wink in his direction.

"Wait, B, do you think I could carry you to your room if you fall asleep?"

"I'd like to see you try."

"You can't _watch_ me do it, silly. You'll be asleep."

"Put on the goddamn movie so you can find out."

Thirty minutes into _Mean Girls_ , and Blaine was out like a light. It was a shame he never could stay up long enough to witness the cinematic masterpiece. Although, this was a great opportunity for Rachel to try out her master plan. She got out of her chair, and went over and gently wrapped her arms around her brother. The minute she made any motion of picking him up, he literally reached out and _clawed_ her, like a freaking panther. After three more feeble attempts, Rachel gave up. Knowing the couch Blaine was on wasn't the most comfortable, and he was sleeping sitting up at the moment, Rachel refused to give up on her plan.

She pulled out her phone and shot a text over to her best friend.

 **Rachel:** Are you still awake? No is not an option.

 **Kurt:** Yeah, I am, I was just skyping with a girl from Glee Club.

 **Rachel:** Quinn?

 **Kurt:** No, someone named Brittany.

 **Rachel:** Oh.

 **Rachel:** Can you come over, quickly?

 **Kurt:** Um

 **Rachel:** Your boyfriend here fell asleep on the couch. Keeps on scratching me whenever I try to be a good sister and take him to bed. You read that right. Scratching. I need u to try to lift him upstairs because you're my only hope at this point.

 **Kurt:** Sounds like fun. Be your door in 10.

"I can't believe my life has come to this."

"I'll owe you one, Kurt. He's in the living room on the couch."

* * *

Even though he was rightfully weirded out by Rachel's request, Kurt mentally high fived himself for jumping at another opportunity to see Blaine sleeping. He looked so cute, with his face nuzzled into one of the cushions, and his glasses completely askew on his face. _Wait, shit. Are those my pants?_ Kurt noticed, alarmed. Seeing Blaine in his clothes was making his pyjama pants a lot tighter than usual, and he wondered if the other boy felt the same way when he first saw Kurt in his hoodie. Because, damn. This was something he could get used to.

"Let me see what happens when you try to pick him up, Rachel."

She gave him a pleading look, yet obliged. Sure enough, Blaine seemingly turned into some kind of wild cat in his sleep, earning a loud laugh from Kurt, who had to quickly cover his mouth in fear of waking the house.

"Don't worry. My brother is the heaviest sleeper I have ever encountered. You should see him in the mornings, he throws a grade a hissy fit whenever he gets woken up."

"That'll be something to get used to." Kurt replied immediately, a warm feeling bubbling in his stomach. Then he realized what he just said, and looked over at Rachel who could only produce a string of squeals and cheers at the adorableness of everything.

"Shut up, Berry." Kurt said, playfully, biting his lip.

After quieting down, Rachel tilted her head in her brother's direction, an obvious reminder to Kurt that she was trying to be a good sister here.

"This is so ridiculous, you're lucky I love you." Kurt said to Rachel, _not her brother_.

"Didn't know our first _I love yous_ would go like this."

The blue-eyed teen ignored Rachel, and awkwardly went over to Blaine, wrapping one arm around his mid back, and the other around the back of his legs. Blaine flinched a little, but didn't claw anybody, so that was a good sign. By the time Kurt had picked him up fully, Rachel was practically jumping for joy. With Blaine in his arms, he walked up the stairs, following the elder Ander-Berry's direction to his room. About halfway up, Blaine moved around as much as he could in Kurt's arms, then deeply inhaled, as if he were smelling something. A dopey grin appeared on his face afterwards, and he very contently mumbled the word "Sunshine". _Not_ _only was Blaine a jaguar in his sleep towards his sister, he_ _was a sleep talker,_ Kurt concluded.

Blaine's room was very tastefully put together and neat for a 16-year-old boy. Not wanting to flip a light on in fear of waking up Blaine and finding himself in a very awkward situation, he examined the room the best he could in the darkness. The walls were dark, and the entire place had a very retro and classical feel to it. Blaine had a dresser on one side, covered in different objects Kurt couldn't really make out. There was a bookshelf on the other side, a coat hanger by the door, and two nightstands on either side of his bed. As he laid the younger boy down, he noticed that Blaine's duvet pattern was a red, gray, and white plaid. There were a few clothing articles on the floor, but nothing too messy. Kurt could definitely get used to coming here often. He was already halfway out the door when he stopped, turned around, muttered _fuck it_ , and leaned down to kiss Blaine on the forehead. He immediately noticed how the other boy automatically leaned into the kiss, and that same grin from earlier took its position back on his face. Kurt couldn't help smiling as well, knowing that as imperfect as they both were on their own, they would without a doubt be perfect for each other.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Leroy Ander-Berry asked his son.

"Positive. There's no going back now."

It was now six days since the family dinner with the Hummel-Hudson's, and Blaine and his

biological father stood in the middle of their local airport, waiting in a line to check in for the teen's flight to back to California. During those few days, Blaine had decided that the best thing he could do was come out to his mom face to face. Not only because it's what she deserved after all the emotional turmoil she went through with her ex-husband, but Blaine knew he'd find it easier to actually _see_ her reaction to the news, rather than through a phone.

Since they booked the tickets last minute, Blaine couldn't get a flight back home until August 7th, meaning he'd have to go a full ten days without seeing Kurt, something neither he or the other boy agreed with. He wished he could take Kurt with him, but Burt said no, and his son kept on denying Blaine's requests to smuggle him across the country in his carry-on bag.

"I won't be able to fit in a fucking duffle bag, Blaine. Also, have you _seen_ me? I'd burn to a crisp in that heat." What is it with everyone and getting into details lately?

Yes, they both knew that distance is one of the main things to keep a healthy relationship, but seeing as they weren't officially together yet, that rule didn't apply to them. The only silver lining for them was that by the time Blaine got back, they'd both be ready to take that leap forward and become a couple. Kurt was only scheduled for a few more therapy sessions, and his last one was on the 12th. School started the 25th, meaning they'd only have a few weeks together before they began their senior and junior years.

Blaine was incredibly excited to see his mom again, and she was thrilled he'd be coming up as well, and took the whole ten days off work. He didn't even know if she could do that, but he didn't question it. Him and Nick had planned a couple bro afternoons during his stay, seeing as they didn't know when Blaine would be back West again, this trip had fallen into place perfectly.

The flight, just like any other one he'd experienced, was boring. Even when they hit turbulence, Blaine wasn't enthused. He did turn his mood around when he saw his mom at the airport, and wrapped her in a bone crushing hug, and they both stood like that for a while, very eager to be reconciled.

Pam Anderson was a petite woman with curly black hair, and Blaine's eyes. People often said her son was the spitting image of her, but Blaine refused to believe he could ever be compared to someone as beautiful as his mom.

Now, him and his mom were out doing a little bit of shopping out in Beverly Hills. Blaine had gone into Brooks Brothers and purchased a whole bunch of clothing he liked, to amp up his style to how it used to be, because he was starting to care about he looked again. Pam Anderson was now inside the Chanel store, a place Blaine had no desire to enter, so he just sat on a bench outside. He snapchatted Kurt a bunch of pictures of their location, knowing how all over it he'd be. Blaine had also bought a few things for his boy, but that'd be a surprise for later. He then heard a group of laughing teens walk up the street, but he didn't bother looking up from his phone to check out who it was.

"Hey, homo!" A female voice called, sounding oddly familiar. That certainly got his attention. Even though California was a pretty open minded state altogether, he knew there would always be room for a few exceptions.

Then he looked up.

And there stood the last person he wanted to see.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

Take a shot every time somebody cries in this fanfiction. Just kidding, don't do that, you'll get alcohol poisoning.

* * *

Angelica Kelly looked like absolute shit as she approached Blaine, and that was putting it nicely. Her brown curls were greasy and un kept, her blue eyes nothing but bitter and cold. She wore a plain t shirt with ratty jeans, and not in the fashionable way. A cigarette dangled from her fingers as well. She was surrounded by a bunch of boys Blaine didn't know, but as far as he assumed, were probably all sleeping with her. It wasn't that the Anderson boy didn't know Angelica had become this kind of person, he hadn't really _talked_ to her since they broke up last year. The last time he'd seen her was when he'd gotten in a fight with Nick and stupidly went to a party without him, gotten wasted, and let her give him a hand job in the dark hallways of the house. He couldn't remember much of the experience, and he was glad for it.

"Hello, Angelica. Sucks that this part of town is so clean, and is about to be dirtied by a cheap whore like you. I'm shocked you could even afford to simply get here in the first place."

"That's sure as hell a lot different than what you said to me the last time we encountered each other, now is it?" The boys with her chuckled.

Blaine could only roll his eyes and give her the best Kurt Hummel bitch face he could muster.

"Speaking of getting off, where's that little slut of yours you've been parading around on social media? Pride month is over, I don't want to see any of that gay sh-"

She didn't even get to finish her sentence, because at that moment, something inside of Blaine snapped. Without control of his actions, he had gone over and punched Angelica, hard. So hard he heard something snap, not entirely sure if it was her jaw or his hand. He could deal with that later. Blaine walked up so he was centimetres away from her face and practically spit out his next words.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about my _boyfriend_ like that. At least he knows that a relationship is about the feelings of _both_ people, not just one, a concept you _clearly_ couldn't grasp. I thought I made it _very_ clear you needed to get the _fuck_ out of my life. Now why don't you go take these boys back to where you came from, because if anybody has _sluts_ , it's you."

He then looked over at said boys behind her and said.

"You'll get more satisfaction from touching each other than you ever will from _her_ " He said, looking at the stunned Angelica, loathingly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, because there goes five minutes of my life I'll never, ever get back."

Blaine turned around, concluding that the snap was in her jaw, not his hand. The bitch deserved it though, so he didn't feel bad. It was just then that Blaine decided to look around, and said a silent thank you to whoever was watching that he hadn't attracted a crowd. He was wrong though, because there was one person who had seen what just went down.

His mother stood there, wide eyed, clearly having just heard the conversation her son had.

* * *

"Mom, I didn't mean for it to happen like this. I-I was going to take you out for lunch on August first, to that Italian place we like, and tell you then"

He now sat on one of the patio chairs located on the balcony of her gorgeous penthouse apartment, as his mother paced around, looking stressed.

"You have some explaining to do. Start from the moment you left So Cal."

Blaine told her everything. Told her how he had fallen for a person not because of their gender. Told her how he felt like the luckiest guy in the world every time Kurt looked in his direction, or took the time to send him a text. He also told her that they weren't together yet, and how the words "my boyfriend" had just slipped out during his encounter with Angelica. His mother had sat down across from him, studying his expressions closely the entire time her son spoke. When he was done, Pam Anderson took a deep breath, put a reassuring hand on his knee, and spoke.

"Sweetie, you need to know I'm not mad. I will never discriminate you because you like boys, that'd be stupid. All your father and I have _ever_ wanted for you was you to find happiness. You haven't been yourself these past few years, and you've been here for under 12 hours and I've seen more of the old you than I could even imagine. I guess at first, it was a lot for me to process, just like your father. But, considering the fact you aren't destroying a marriage," she said with a light laugh. "I have no reason to resent you for coming to this realization."

Blaine just stared, completely appalled. He had spent weeks wallowing in fear over his mom's reaction, and here she was, accepting him for whoever he chose to love. Wait, did he _love_ Kurt? Hell yes, he did, who was he fooling. Suddenly all the emotions of coming to that realization and what just happened came to the surface. Blaine opened his arms, and when his mother hugged him, he buried his face in her shoulder and just cried.

* * *

Out of all the things he could currently be doing, Kurt Hummel did _not_ want to be sitting on Quinn Fabray's deck, in a bathing suit, spending the afternoon in her pool. Rachel had the complete opposite idea, and she splashed around in the water with Quinn, as they both roared with laughter. The only contribution Kurt had made so far was yell out diving scores whenever the girls jumped into the 6-foot-deep water.

He _hated_ wearing bathing suits as well. Kurt was fairly happy with his physique, not too muscular, but still reasonably skinny. The only thing he hated were the small white scars that ran across his shoulders and back from being thrown into lockers where sharp metal would occasionally be protruding from their doors. Those scars made him look ugly, and while the girls hadn't said anything, he _knew_ they noticed them. Mercedes was the only person he told. Then there was the fact he couldn't swim, so he was exposing himself like this for nothing.

To make matters worse, the teen _really_ missed Blaine. He wouldn't be back for another five days, but Kurt counted it as six, knowing Blaine would spend the first day in bed, jetlagged and getting used to the time change. He wasn't doing a great job at hiding his longing to see the other boy, and neither was his dad. Kurt was shocked to find out his dad was some kind of Blaine Fanderson, Burt Hummel's combination of the words Anderson and fan, just a few days after he threatened the boy with a fucking gun collection.

Kurt knew this was the reason Quinn and/or Rachel had gone out of their way to spend time with him at least once every second day, so he could surround himself with two of his favourite girls in the world as a cure for his loneliness, especially now that Mercedes was on vacation.

Blaine had come out to his mom during the past few days, and Kurt had experienced mixed emotions about the whole thing. He told the older boy the entire story of what happened with Angelica, and Kurt's stomach coiled with white hot jealousy at the thought of anybody putting their hands on Blaine on what would soon be marked at _Kurt's_ territory only. Well, she technically didn't touch him, but it still stung. But, Kurt felt a sense of pride after finding out Blaine dragged that girl so hard she was practically in the next state over, and he stood up for not only himself, but for Kurt.

His mom had insisted on Skyping with Kurt to get to meet him, and they did so a few days ago. It went pretty good. The three talked for a while before Kurt and Pam Anderson started to have "girl talk", thus making Blaine leave the room. He was taken aback by how stunning of a woman she was, and just how much she resembled her son.

The sound of splashing stopped, and Kurt noticed Rachel climbing out of the pool in her one pieced black bathing suit. The blue-eyed teen didn't pay much attention to her, and got out of his chair for a few seconds, to stretch out his arms, which were getting tired. Little did he know, Rachel was taking a photo of him on her Snapchat, and quickly sent it off to her story before he could snatch the phone from her hands. Logging on to his own account, he quickly snapped an embarrassing photo of Rachel as she dived back into the water, with the same caption as the one she had posted but with a little twist. It read; **Look at my sexy bby. (Don't watch Rachel's story if you love me, thanks).**

He knew that was only going to give her post more attention, but it was worth a try. About a minute later, the only people who'd seen it were Blaine, Finn, and his lab partner from last year, Heather. Finn had replied to his story saying, "Who's the hottie? ;)" to which Kurt had quickly answered telling his brother there was no way they'd be fit for each other, and, she was way too young for him.

Kurt then saw Rachel's phone light up with a Snapchat from her brother, and he knew the curiosity about whether it'd be about him or not would slowly kill him.

"Rachel!" He called. "Can I answer a snap from Blaine on your phone? I won't open or read anything else."

"Yeah, of course!" She called back from where she laid on top of Quinn in the pool.

Unlocking her phone at the speed of light, first thing Kurt did was check to see if Blaine viewed the photo yet in the first place. Sure enough, he had, along with 10 other people Kurt assumed were friends from Los Angeles. Even though he was still embarrassed, Kurt gave himself another mental high five after seeing Blaine screenshotted it. There was also another screenshot from a boy named Adam Crawford, but not like he gave a rat's ass. He then opened the photo Blaine sent to his sister in return, which consisted of him sitting in the middle of some public place, face bright red and not because of the heat, fanning himself. It was captioned "I would apologize for the screenshot but damn, that boy is a SNACK."

He quickly replayed the photo for the girls to see, and they laughed like maniacs about how humiliated Blaine was about to become. Kurt replied with a simple photo of him winking in a very flirty manner, with the words "I'd be all yours if you were here."

In return, Blaine sent a photo zoomed in on his face, looking defeated, with the word "Fuck".

Kurt then replied with a photo of him smirking saying "Woah, tiger. Take me out to dinner first, we aren't even dating yet."

This time, he received a snap of a delicious looking plate of pasta, they must've been at an Italian restaurant, with the word "FUCK" in all caps. Kurt sent one last photo in return, and turned off Rachel's phone, knowing his hands were more than full with Blaine Anderson in his life.

* * *

When Kurt woke up the morning of August 7th, he knew he was in one of his moods. Occasionally, he'd have days where he just felt this surge of negative emotion deep in his chest, and it'd cause him to be snappy with everybody. Kurt hadn't had a day like this in a long time. He knew he was being overdramatic about this, and it's very easy to control your attitude towards people, but during his down days, as he called them, it was impossible. By the time lunch time had rolled around, Kurt had yelled at Carole at least 3 times, and he refused to leave his room. These days always made him feel like such a shitty person, as if the worst parts of him had to come out and ruin everything. The teen wanted to cry, because of just how utterly hopeless he felt, but all he found himself was busying himself by tidying up his already immaculate room to distract his mind. It occurred to him that he could always call up Eliza for therapy, but Kurt was used to these days by this point, and it wasn't as if talking to somebody would help, because they'd only think he was a lunatic for feeling this way. Then, his dad came thundering down the steps with a wide grin on his face, that he wasn't making any effort to hide.

"Your boy's home."

Blaine.

Kurt had completely forgotten about him.

His dad had gone back upstairs right after his announcement, and suddenly Kurt's mind went into overdrive. His thoughts overlapped each other, filling him with things like; _What person in their right mind would ever want to deal with this side of me? How stupid am I to think I could even be cared about in that way in the first place? Blaine deserves so much better._

He suddenly overwhelmed, his breathing turning erratic, and he quickly ran into his bathroom, closed the door, and sobbed. It was all he knew to do whenever he started to freak out like this, and Kurt found crying incredibly therapeutic. Curled into a ball, making himself as small as he could get, knuckles white from how hard they wrapped around his knees as he cried. Kurt Hummel hadn't felt this powerless in a very long time.

* * *

"Kurt?" Blaine called as he crept down the stairs, a bundle of nerves and excitement.

It was definitely nice to be back in Ohio, minus the time change he had yet to adjust to, and the fact it was like the fucking Arctic here compared to where he'd just been. He missed his family, but there was one person he missed a thousand times more. Should he have felt bad for sneaking into the Hummel-Hudson household? It wasn't like he hadn't done it before. Truth is, he did knock, but when neither Burt nor Carole answered, he decided to let himself in with the key he was given before he left.

Now Blaine Anderson found himself on the stairs to Kurt's room, clutching an entire duffle bag filled with goodies for him. The boy wasn't in sight, so he automatically assumed he must've gone out with his parents. As he went back up the stairs, starting to feel like a real intruder, Blaine heard someone crying, from the attached bathroom.

No, not someone.

 _Kurt._

It was a sound that trampled over every good thing Blaine was currently feeling, replacing it with a stabbing pain, and the need to protect the older teen. As if on autopilot, Blaine ran down the stairs, threw the bag down on Kurt's bed, and opened the bathroom door.

Kurt was sitting against the white wall, having looked up when Blaine entered the room. His eyes were red and puffy, and his skin was blotchy, just like the first time they met. Except now, Blaine knew he could do something about it. He went over, and went down on the floor to be at the same level as Kurt, and gingerly asked him what was wrong. Had this been anybody else, he would've cracked some joke about how he understood it was hard to be without him for so long, or what a warm welcome, but this was different. This was Kurt. It was a while before he received a response though, as the other teen tried to wipe away the tears that just kept on coming.

"Don't you s-see, Blaine?" He choked out, voice high with emotion. "I'm a fucking mess. Why would you ever want to put up with m-me when I get like th-this? I am so stupid for thinking somebody like you would ever date somebody like _me_. You've never even _been_ with a boy before, and I was so stupid to think you were attracted to me because of it, when it's so clear the only reason you like me is because I'm so much like a _girl_. Oh G-god, I can't fucking do this anymore."

Blaine frantically took Kurt's face in both hands, keeping a strong grip, waiting to have the boy's attention. When he got the eye contact he had been waiting before, he said, with so much sureness in his voice it scared him;

"Please don't ever say something like that again. I'm dead serious. Kurt. You're a mess, I'm a mess, hell, I flew across the country to come out to a mom who I was scared was going to burn me at the stake, only to find out I'd be loved and accepted for who I am. But do you know what? Humanity is a mess, and so is the world. But even in the midst of it all, some of us are lucky to find that _one_ _person_ who is just as messy as they are, but they will somehow overcome every obstacle together, because it's meant to be that way. I knew for a fact, that from the moment I laid eyes on you, I was going to spend the rest of my life with you, even if it'd be just as friends. But let's face it, we don't want that, which is why we've both gotten better primarily for ourselves, but also to make _this,"_ He gestured between the two of them. "Work. So, what do you say, Kurt Hummel, can we be messes together?"

Kurt was crying now, but for a completely different reason. In that moment, he had never felt more safe and protected than before. Blaine was looking at him like he was the only person in the entire goddamn world, and Kurt knew he was doing the same.

So that's why, without any hesitation whatsoever, Kurt replied. "Yes, always, yes."

And suddenly, Blaine had pulled his face in, and he was kissing him. It wasn't either of their first kisses, but something about it made it feel like it was. A huge feeling of relief washed over both boys the second their lips made contact, almost like an _Oh, hello. It's you_. The kiss wasn't heated or chaste, and it was perfect. Blaine had control for a bit, until Kurt flicked his tongue over Blaine's teeth, immediately granting him entrance to the shorter boy's mouth, Blaine letting a low growl out in the back of his throat, making Kurt harder than he already was, if that was even possible.

They broke apart a few seconds later, unsure of what to stay, yet completely blissed out at what just happened. They were _boyfriends_ , something both had been working towards for almost a month. After a few minutes of silence, when Kurt and Blaine finally looked up at each other, all they could do was laugh. Neither one had predicted their relationship beginning like this, yet something about it was a thousand times better than what they could've asked for.

* * *

"I will never get over the fact you had a jam session with Bruno Mars and neglected to tell me."

"I didn't want to sound like I was boasting. Plus "jam session" is a bit of an overstatement, baby. I was 11, he invited me backstage before one of his concerts and I played and sang a few songs with him, then he told me to come back and find him one day to be signed to his record company."

5 days before school started, and the two lovebirds laid in each other's arms at the top of Blaine's bed. They had been inseparable since that day in the bathroom, and had spent their days kissing, getting to know the other even better, and spending time with friends and family. Kurt held the smaller boy who laid with his head rested on Kurt's chest, as he referred to the signed guitar Blaine had so proudly displayed on the floor next to one of the dressers in his room. Now that he had seen it in full light, Kurt had definitely been right about his love for Blaine's room the first time he'd been in here, an encounter Blaine still didn't know about. It was just so _him_. The two of them weren't alone in the house, but Kurt liked how Blaine's dads didn't have a "door open at all times" rule, so they could have privacy while they were there.

"Have you ever had a blow job?" Blaine abruptly asked, not surprisingly killing the mood the two had created.

" _Blaine!_ " Kurt squeaked.

"Don't act all innocent virgin on me, Kurt. In case you don't recall, we had phone sex last week. And you certainly went all _sex machine_ before I could even mentally prepare myself. Not that I'm complaining though."

Kurt turned a shade of scarlet, embarrassed by his boyfriend's complete lack of filter at times.

"Well, since you're so insistent, as I matter of fact, I have. Twice. From Sebastian. He wasn't terrible at the actual _thing_ , it just didn't feel like it meant anything."

"Oh, I see. I know you're going to ask me, and I'm going to be brutally honest with you, I don't know the number. Definitely not, like, a whopping amount, and it was mostly when I was under the influence of some kind. I had a serious problem with underage drinking like I once said, and lost complete control of who I was when I got drunk. Meaning the girls would take advantage of when I was most vulnerable, and just go for it. Not like I was stopping them."

"Thank you for your honesty, honey. You know I'd never judge you for who you used to be, that'd be like you hating me for having a crush on Finn. Anyways, why'd you ask?"

"Because I'm about to give you one, silly. But only if you're ready."

"W-what?" Kurt asked, incredulous. "Blaine, your parents are _downstairs_."

"Sometimes you just have to live a little, sexy."

The other boy was silent.

"Are you positive you want to do this, though? Because if it's making you uncomfortable in any way then we don't have to."

The only response he got was Kurt slowly, in the most sexually teasing way possible, pulling down his gray skinny jeans.

* * *

There was now only one more day until school began, and Kurt was dying to tell Blaine he loved him. He had come to terms with this fact two days ago, the first time they spent the night together, and it was absolute bliss. He loved Blaine for the person he was, and even more for the person he seemed to be becoming. Blaine had gained a huge level of maturity, yet still managed to keep the dorky side to him as well.

Their relationship had grown as well. On a sexual level as well as an emotional one. Of course, the boys still remained virgins, but just barely. Once they'd gotten intimate for the first time, it had become a regular thing for them to "find" themselves in compromising positions, leading to sexy times. Besides that, Kurt and Blaine knew pretty much everything about the other, but there were little things that didn't add up. Like how Kurt refused to take his shirt off. Like ever. Blaine had carefully examined the one shirtless photo he had of his boyfriend from the pool thing to see if there was any obvious reason, but Kurt was beyond perfect.

Today, Kurt was just frustrated. He _needed_ to tell Blaine soon, or it'd just randomly come out, ruining the importance of it all. This was such a big deal to him, three words he never even came close to sharing with Sebastian. But what if Blaine didn't love him back? He knew Blaine cared about him deeply, but the other boy hadn't been in a committed relationship for a long time. If Kurt told Blaine he loved him at the wrong time, it could completely scare him away. He didn't _want_ to wait for Blaine to say it first though. The teen had planned to drop the bomb on his boyfriend before school, but now he was cutting it incredibly close, and didn't know what to do.

"Something troubling you, kiddo?" Burt asked. The two were seated in the living room, watching whatever was on the TV. Right now, it was the 11am news.

"Can I be honest? Don't freak out." He paused, giving his dad a look that said just so. "I'm trying to think of how I'm going to tell Blaine I love him today."

There was an eerie silence after that for what felt like an eternity to Kurt, but finally, after a while, his dad spoke. And as always, knew just what to say.

"Are you serious right now? Kurt, I'm so happy for you. It's obvious you and Blaine are soulmates." His son went pale. "Anybody who's seen you two around each other would say that. If you feel you're ready to say it, then who's stopping you? It's obvious he loves you back like mad, so there's nothing to fear. As for ways of saying it, there's the standard 'take him out to dinner' tradition, or you could add a little _Kurt Hummel flair_ to it. You made me sit through the entirety of _Moulin Rouge_ , and I saw how you cried during that 'Come This May' song or whatever. What I suggest, is you two watch that movie, and sing along. There's a line or two in there that says I love you, so you go ahead and sing it, and if Blaine is ready, he'll say it with you. It's the easiest way to find out if he feels the same, and if he doesn't, you won't feel too bad because it's just a lyric, right?"

Kurt sat there, stunned. That was the _perfect_ plan. He was already dialing Blaine's number by the time his dad had begun his speech about how he was right yet again.

* * *

Kurt and Blaine were totally blissed out. The shorter teen had arrived at his boyfriend's house about an hour ago, which they had spent doing nasty, nasty things. They had both just come down from their climaxes, and now sat wrapped in each other's embrace, casually talking and lightly kissing. This went on for a few more minutes, until Kurt proposed watching _Moulin Rouge_ , to which Blaine happily obliged, because it was both of their favourite movies.

"You look nervous." Blaine stated, slipping back into Kurt's sweatpants, something he never seemed to take off.

"Why would I be nervous?"

"That's my question."

"I don't know, I guess it's just school stuff." Kurt said with a sigh.

"There's nothing to worry about. You're academically brilliant, we both know that. I'll be by your side as much as I can, and even when I'm not there, you'll have one of the girls. If anybody has to worry, it's me. I'm the new kid here." Blaine replied, even though he wasn't entirely convinced Kurt's excuse was true.

The pair sat in silence for the next few moments, enjoying each other's company as well as the movie. They sang along to the first few songs, nailing every single lyric as if they were born to do this. Then, when Kurt heard the opening notes to Come What May, he automatically began to panic. It was ridiculous, because really, maybe this didn't mean a thing to Blaine, and maybe he wouldn't even sing –

 _Never knew_

 _I could feel like this_

Oh fuck. This was happening.

 _Like I've never seen the sky before_

Blaine's voice was the purest thing Kurt had ever heard. He knew he'd never get over how much he loved to hear it. Especially now, as he nuzzled his head into the older boy's chest, and ended up singing the first few verses muffled. But then, Kurt froze, and he felt Blaine do the same. He saw the head of tamed dark curls look up, and whiskey eyes lock on ocean coloured ones.

 _But I love you_

 _Until the end of time_

Blaine just told Kurt he loved him. They both knew that was more than just a song lyric, and that it represented words they'd been too scared to say for weeks. So, when Kurt joined in, and they both sang their first _I love yous_ , it was as if a massive weight had been lifted off both of their shoulders. By the end of the song, Kurt and Blaine reveled in this newfound silence that had fallen between the two of them. Until Kurt finally spoke up.

"I love you, Blaine Anderson."

"I love you too, Kurt Hummel." He replied without a moment's hesitation.

They both giggled, and Blaine went up to Kurt's mouth to give him a kiss that relayed the words they had just shared. When they pulled apart, both had the widest of grins on their faces.

"Until the end of time?" Kurt timidly asked, wondering if Blaine actually meant every word he had just sang.

"Until the end of time."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:**

 **There has been a year time jump, it's now the summer between season 3 and 4.**

I tried to write a chapter that went throughout the school year but I scrapped it because it was really boring whoops. Everything that happened in s3 stayed pretty close to canon in this fic, and I pointed out a few differences throughout the rest of the story, nothing too major. Also, this is the first and only time I include a written-out song in this fic, because I always skip over the lyrics whenever they're in fanfiction, just because they don't interest me. However, this is one of my favourite songs in the world, so I'd highly recommend listening to it on YouTube for some feels over these two boys, (the How I Met Your Mother or Dodie Clark versions are the best). Also, there's a whole part in italics here because it's a flashback.

* * *

Blaine Anderson literally moved in with Kurt the summer before he went off to New York, after getting into NYADA with Rachel. He killed his audition, so it was no surprise when his acceptance letter came in the mail shortly after. As for Rachel, she might've choked, but the brunette redeemed herself at Nationals that year.

Things were blissful between the couple all summer, but it was obvious there was a sense of nervousness and unease as it drew closer and closer to August first, the day Kurt was destined to leave. They had been in their fair share of fights over the past year, but they knew the hardest thing to deal with would be their time apart. Sometimes at night, Blaine would dream of the worst possible things that could go wrong with him and Kurt, and would shoot up in bed, nervously sweating as his body trembled, only to find Kurt sitting on the edge, silently sobbing over the same things. At times like those, the boys knew there was no point in reassuring each other they'd be alright, because truly, neither of them knew if those words would prove to be true of not. So instead, they'd just resort to holding each other, and sharing soft kisses in the dark, hoping for the best.

It wasn't weird having Blaine live with them in the least. He did occasionally go across the street to have dinner with his family, or go spend a day or two with them, but the teen was mostly seen with Kurt. They'd spend the hot summer days talking about their future together, like what songs they'd sing at each other's weddings, soon deciding on Come What May, since it was so symbolic for them, or how many kids they'd have. Blaine wanted 19, but Kurt quickly dismissed that idea.

The boys definitely spent a lot of time getting intimate, because it was nice to get to know each other's bodies more, if that were even possible for Kurt and Blaine.

It was so nice getting to spend these last few months together.

But just like all good things, it had to come to an end.

* * *

"Can we just pretend t-today isn't what it is?" Kurt asked, the second he woke up the first morning of August.

"Honey, I don't think I can do that. Tonight, you're catching a flight that's going to send you to New York to pursue your dreams. As much as it's killing me inside, I'm so proud of you for defying all odds to make this happen. I wouldn't trade this past year with you for anything, and I _know_ we've grown strong enough to make it over this next year, despite our initial uncertainty."

When Kurt started to cry, Blaine knew he had to be the strong one here. He comforted his boyfriend through everything, holding him as close as he could, and kissed him to convey words he knew he couldn't say without breaking down himself, as he sent Kurt off to the airport.

 _I'm never saying goodbye to you, Blaine._

Burt was there too, trying to play strong just as much as Blaine. It was hard to say goodbye to Rachel as well, but he knew he wouldn't have to worry about his relationship with her, so as selfish as it was, Blaine wasn't too concerned about her leaving. She'd have Jesse, who was going to room with them, and had Kurt all anxious. He didn't mind Rachel's ex, and he knew him and Kurt would get along just fine, but he was still worried all the same. What if him and Rachel ended up not getting back together? That'd leave his sister crushed, and he didn't think Kurt would be stable enough to help her through it.

* * *

After a long car ride home with his dads, having to listen to them go on and on about how proud they were of Rachel, and not consulting Blaine once about how he was feeling, he was eager to get out of there. Everything just seemed to revolve around _Rachel_ constantly, and it was becoming more and more noticeable this past year. Maybe it was because she was moving to New York, or how it was her destiny to become a star, but Blaine really felt like he was being cast aside. That's why he enjoyed being around the Hummel's so much, because they always found a way to make him feel included. His mom was the same way, but there was only so much she could do from over in Los Angeles, or the brief visit she made over Christmas time.

Just as he hung his bomber jacket back up on their coatrack by the door, an article of clothing Blaine found himself wearing every day, no matter the weather, he noticed Burt and Carole's car pulling in across the street. They had told him earlier that he was free to go over when they got home to pack up his stuff so he did just that.

Walking into the immaculate basement bedroom without Kurt in it felt different in a way. Not that Blaine had never been in there alone before, but this wasn't the same. This time, Kurt wasn't coming back. At least not for the next few months. Everything was in its usual place, unless Kurt had taken it with him to New York, except Blaine saw a note on the bed, addressed to him. He picked it up and began to read.

 _My love,_

 _I left a little_ something _back at your house, because I know how worked up you've been over me leaving. Trust me, Blaine, I feel the same way. Hopefully this will be something to keep you busy over these next few months. I've sent you something I wasn't able to do in person, just because I knew I'd break down after I played the first chord. You already know how much I'm going to miss you, so I've decided to conclude this letter with a simple I love you._

 _Until the end of time,_

 _Kurt_

Blaine was more than confused. Not at the fact Kurt left something for him at his house, because that was just so _Kurt_ , always buying things for people, but rather at the part where he talked about playing a chord. In all the months Blaine had known his boyfriend, there was no way he'd be caught dead even attempting to play some sort of instrument. That thought triggered a memory for Blaine, one the events that came before and after had made him forget entirely.

" _Good morning, sunshine. Care to tell me why you're acting like I just caught you committing a homicide?"_

 _It was the morning after they lost their virginities to each other. The pair had been in Kurt's room, since Blaine's family was around and his boyfriends' were away on business. He had woken up to see Kurt sitting on the edge of his bed, hair mused from sleep, wearing nothing but boxer briefs and Blaine's striped shirt from the night before, which clung to him_ very _nicely. But the weird thing was he sat in front of his laptop, with a ukulele in hand, strumming a few chords, following some kind of tutorial off the screen. When he noticed Blaine was awake, he haphazardly threw the instrument under the bed and slammed the computer closed._

 _"No can do, sir. But I_ can _go make you breakfast."_

 _Blaine decided to leave the subject as it was, knowing if Kurt wanted to tell him about it, he would._

 _"Damn, that's an offer I simply can't pass up. But you aren't going anywhere until I get 20 kisses first."_

 _"Fine." Kurt sighed, and proceeded to do just that, but it then evolved into something greater, and their first time was quickly turned into a second._

He was wiping away a tear before he'd even known it'd fallen.

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Blaine asked, confused as to why his dads had forced him back into their car.

"To Santana's house."

"Look I appreciate the sentiment, taking me to see my best friend and all, but I'd much rather be alone tonight."

Over the past year, Blaine had made a few friends of his own. First, there were the boys. Mike Chang and Noah Puckerman had been main group of bros, and they were practically inseparable. There was also Rory Flanagan, who deadass looked just his and Kurt's child. Fuck, even thinking of his boyfriend now sent a sharp pain through his chest. But most of all, there was Santana. She had been sort of a motherly figure for him, always making sure he and Kurt felt safe. The Latina was also a badass, and never hesitated to keep Blaine in line and tell him the God honest truth, a trait he rather admired. The thing is, all of them were leaving this year. Mike and Noah had already gone, and so had Rory. Santana was leaving next week, and Blaine wasn't ready to have to say yet another goodbye. He was friends with her girlfriend, Brittany as well, but she was closer with his boyfriend, as well as almost every other girl.

"You know how Kurt said he'd left something for you at our house? Yeah, well we figured you'd go home before reading that letter, so we left this little _something_ with Santana until you were ready." Hiram Ander-Berry said.

"Um, okay?" Blaine was still quite confused as to what Kurt could've gotten him that needed to be so secretive. Speaking of, he checked his phone, and noticed there was a video sent to him from Kurt. The attached message read; _Sorry for my little breakdown at the end, but I tried recording this so many times and that was the only time I saved my crying until the I finished, Anyways, you know how much I love you, and I know we're still unsure, but I know we'll make it._

Obviously not able to play the video right now, knowing his dads were right in front of him, what if it was something like Kurt making sex noises into the camera? Then Blaine remembered that was something _he_ did as a joke after dialing Kurt's number and waiting for an answer. It wasn't as funny as he had hoped when he had been moaning various profanities into the phone for 2 minutes when he realized it was Burt who answered the phone, and not his son. Needless to say, Blaine didn't look that man in the eyes for the next month.

His dad arrived at Santana's house, parked the car, and turned around with a motion of his head, gesturing for Blaine to go inside. Adjusting his cardigan a little, the teenager hesitantly walked up to his best friend's front door, trying to be as quiet as he could, considering they were in Lima Heights after all, and the last thing he wanted to do was get jumped. When he knocked on the door, the first thing Blaine heard was barking, which was weird, because Santana didn't have a dog. Not even two seconds later, she was yanking the door open, with what was sure enough, a puppy in her arms.

"Just take her, before I steal her for myself."

Blaine found himself staring down into the chocolatey brown eyes of what was the cutest dog he had ever seen. The teen considered himself quite the expert on dogs, because he had always wanted one his entire life, a fact he literally told everybody he knew, so Blaine could automatically tell this was a golden retriever. Something about the puppy looked oddly familiar though. Had Kurt bought this for him? Blaine was absolutely smitten. He reached out his arms to take hold of the small thing, not knowing that it'd result in a breakdown of his own.

Holding his new dog somehow made it really settle in that Kurt was gone. He lost control of his emotions, sobs wracking his body. Santana immediately took him in her arms, hugging him and rubbing soothing circles on his back. It was sort of awkward, because there was a dog in between them after all, but Blaine did appreciate the gesture. Once his sobs had reduced to just muffled crying, Santana gave him a kiss on the forehead, and sent him on his way back to the car.

"So, what do you think?" Hiram asked him as soon as he got himself settled in.

"I-I love her, and I promise I will do everything I c-can to ensure her happiness and make sure she's taken care of." Blaine said, wiping away tears that just kept on coming.

"Have you decided on a name, son?"

"No, but she does look oddly familiar for some reason."

"That's because you have a stuffed one on display in your room that looks just like her." Leroy stated, like it was common knowledge.

That's when it hit Blaine.

Kurt put a lot of thought into every gift he gave, so it was no coincidence when this happened to be the exact living version of Margaret Thatcher Dog.

He prized that stuffed animal like it was worth a million bucks, even though it was just some cheap thing Kurt had given him after their Senior ditch day.

"Never mind dad, I know exactly what I'm calling my dog."

* * *

As he cuddled with Margaret Thatcher Dog on his bed, _Margaret_ for short, Blaine finally went back to watch the recording Kurt sent him earlier. He pressed play, not knowing what to expect.

Kurt sat in his room, on the hanging chair in front of his wall to be more precise. The camera must've been mounted on his tripod, because it was too steady to have been filmed by somebody. He had that damn ukulele from moths ago in his lap, and was dressed to impress, even though nobody was there. Blaine couldn't tell when this video would've been from, but judging by the sunburn Kurt was currently sporting on both arms, and the cute little freckles all over his face, it was obvious this had been fairly recent.

"Hey, Blaine. This is kind of like a time capsule, because by the time you'll be watching this, I'll already be gone." He choked on that last word.

"Anyways, I'm going to keep this short, because I've tried to say something heartfelt and sentimental in all the other ones but I can't get to the end without crying. So, I'm going to let the song do all the talking. This is a little something I've been putting together for you for quite a while now, and I hope you love this song as much as I do."

He began to play the small instrument, in a tune that Blaine couldn't recognize. Then, Kurt began to sing, which would forever be one of Blaine's favourite sounds. Ever.

 _Hold me close, and hold me fast_

 _This magic spell you cast_

 _This is la vie en rose_

 _When you kiss me, heaven sighs_

 _And though I close my eyes_

 _I see la vie en rose_

He'd never heard this song before, but something about it sounded so perfect with Kurt's voice, Blaine knew the way his boyfriend played it was the by far the best rendition of it.

 _When you press me to your heart_

 _I'm in a world apart_

 _A world where roses bloom_

 _And when you speak, angels sing from above_

 _Every day words seem to turn into love songs_

 _Give your heart and soul to me_

 _And life will always be_

 _La vie en rose_

Kurt concluded with a sigh of relief, happy to have gotten the chords right. He had begun to cry a steady stream of tears now, but still managed to say to the camera right before ending it; "Don't expect me to apologize for taking a bunch of your clothes, B, because I left some of mine for you, so it's a win win."


	9. Chapter 9

If Kurt thought life in New York would be hard, he never could've guessed how hard it'd be with Rachel Berry involved. Sure, he loved Blaine's older sister, but she could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. They had been there for five days, and she was now dragging him out of bed at 6am to go pick up their new roommate, Jesse St James. It was times like this where the soon to be NYADA student wished he could've gone to LA with Mercedes, or even Yale with Quinn. He missed his girls, but most of all, he missed Blaine. The two skyped every single night, but seeing each other through a screen wasn't the same. It had been five days since Kurt last kissed his boyfriend, cuddled with him, witnessed how well he got along with his father. A whole week since they last had sex, and that little mental chart would just start to get longer and longer as time went on.

He had contacted his brother Finn a few times, to see if he wanted to visit, but Kurt never got a reply. From what he knew, his step brother actually _married_ some girl he met in college named Trisha, and the two of them hadn't even bothered to invite Finn's family to the wedding. Carole was clearly hurt by this news when she first found out, but her son had changed so much when he went away, it was almost unsurprising.

Rachel was practically picking him up out of the bed at this point, so Kurt had no choice but to reluctantly get out of it. He padded his way into the bathroom, and quickly went through his moisturizing routine, styled his hair, and threw on a pair of jeans to go with Blaine's hoodie he'd worn to bed. The brunette boy choked on his toothpaste when he realized he was wearing that hoodie from the night they met, not even knowing he still had it. Kurt found himself giving a stern lecture to his reflection in the mirror, forcing himself not to cry.

"Kurt, let's go! We're going to be late!" Rachel was pounding on the door now.

"Why do I even have to come in the first place?"

"Because," She began, obviously annoyed. "You're my best friend and I need you here for moral support."

"Are you dating him now or what?"

"I told you this already, we made it official yesterday."

"I wasn't listening."

After listening to Rachel obnoxiously stand on the side of the street and yell at taxis for 5 minutes, the pair finally arrived at JFK airport. Kurt's phone went off with a text from Blaine right as they went through the doors.

 **Blaine:** I miss you :(

 **Kurt:** It hasn't even been a week baby, we're really going to need to get better at this. Why are you awake so early anyways?

 **Blaine:** Can't sleep. Send nudes?

Kurt chuckled at that. After having sex for the first time, the boyfriends immediately found out they were each _very_ horny people. They'd often sneak off to get dirty, no matter where they were and what time of day it was. Kurt deeply regrets not taking things like that for granted, because he couldn't even begin to fathom how awful it was being apart from Blaine, but was now left with no choice. He did respond to Blaine's text with what he asked for, then put his phone away and continued to follow Rachel until they arrived at the "arrivals" section of the building.

About 15 minutes later, a plane began to descend onto the runway. Rachel was practically shaking with excitement, like some sort of puppy. God, even puppies made Kurt think of Blaine. Not because of the dog he bought him as a departing present, but because Blaine himself reminded him of the animal. Then, the passengers began to get off the plane, and enter the airport.

Not knowing exactly who he was looking for, had Kurt totally relying on Rachel to point her boyfriend out. Suddenly, she was running towards a teenage boy who looked to be about the same age, with light brown hair, that looked messy, but was neatly styled at the same time. He was wearing a leather jacket over a graphic t shirt, and a pair of navy blue jeans. If Kurt had been closer, he would've noticed the boy's blue eyes, that glinted with an air of superiority to everything around him. This was obviously Jesse St James, considering how passionately he was making out with Kurt's roommate. Normally, seeing this would've given Kurt a lot more hope for him and Blaine, but he knew a lot better. The blue-eyed boy forced a smile, pretending to be happy for the reunited "couple".

* * *

When he checked the date, his heart sank in his chest. Today was August 6th, better known as the day Santana went off to Kentucky. To make matters worse, Blaine's one year anniversary with Kurt was the next day, but what was the point when he didn't even have his other half to celebrate it with. He felt miserable, held himself as tight as he could while he tried not to cry. Margaret must've heard him rustling in his bed, because she moved from where she was curled at the bottom, up into Blaine's arms. He held his dog, and gave her kisses all over her head, then tried to fall back asleep. Not having been successful, the teen decided to text Kurt, unaware if he'd be awake or not. Surprisingly he was, then Blaine remembered that this was also the day he was picking up their new roommate from the airport.

The raven-haired boy didn't have that much of a relationship himself with Jesse St James. He wasn't really around during the time the guy was dating Rachel, since he would've much rather been fucking around at parties and with friends. He seemed nice, from the few encounters he had, but it felt forced, meaning he must've been told lots of stories about the person Blaine was at the time. It really, really sucked that that was the only impression he had of the younger Ander-Berry sibling, especially since he'd be around Kurt.

Speaking of, Kurt just sent him some _very_ revealing photos. He'd asked for nudes as a joke, not expecting his boyfriend to actually provide, but _shit_ , if it did not get at least 10 degrees hotter in his room, Blaine was tripping. Gently pushing his dog away from where he laid, he quickly turned on his back, reaching a hand down his pyjama pants. Before Kurt, Blaine used to get off at the mere thought of jerking off. Now, after experiencing what if felt like to be _inside_ another boy, and vice versa, having your sole source of pleasure come from your right hand didn't even compare. But, Blaine knew he'd have to make do.

* * *

"So, you're the famous Kurt Hummel?"

"In the flesh"

The newfound trio had just dropped Jesse's stuff back off at the loft, and now sat gathered around a table in Starbucks as the rest of New York started to head off to work. Jesse hadn't even looked at Kurt until now, having been so distracted by seeing Rachel again, the two were off in their own little world for the longest time. Even now, they were still constantly sharing glances and smiling at each other, Rachel sure was one hell of an actress.

"When am I going to get to hear you sing?"

"I'm sorry, what?' Kurt said, sputtering on his non-fat mocha.

"Rachel has been raving about you for months now, it's about time I hear you for myself and decide if I have anything to worry about at NYADA."

"What do you mean by, 'worry about at NYADA', exactly?"

"You see, my girlfriend and I," he gestured between him and Rachel. "Are shoe ins to be top shit at that school. I need to hear how good you are to find out if you'll jeopardize that or not."

"University isn't going to be a fucking competition." Kurt spat, looking at Rachel for a little bit of sympathy, but she just stared on at Jesse, with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"That's what somebody who knows they aren't good enough would say."

Kurt spat out his drink this time, for real, just a little.

"Isn't that right, Rachel?" Jesse continued, a smug look in his eyes.

She nodded, snapping out of her St James induced reverie, not having paid attention to anything that was said.

But Jesse wasn't done.

"You know what, scratch that _. I_ don't need to hear you sing. Judging by your speaking voice, I can tell the only top position that's going to be in danger is the female one."

And Rachel had the audacity to _laugh_ at that, shattering Kurt's heart into a million more pieces than it already was. He couldn't even find the right words to say before he stormed out of the shop, and began walking back to the loft, expecting someone to come after him sooner than later. Nobody did. Kurt was appalled by how Rachel acted, especially since she knew how much it affected him the last time this happened.

October. West Side Story. When Kurt found out Blaine was auditioning with Tony songs, he knew he was screwed. Him and Mercedes were set on playing the leads, since it was already confirmed she won the role of Maria. After overhearing the judges say he was too feminine to be Tony, Kurt called up Rachel, who hadn't bothered to try out for anything, to come help him with a speaking audition. That had been a disaster. Never had he felt so humiliated in his life. He couldn't even look Blaine in the eyes after it happened, in fear he'd burst out laughing at him just like everyone else. It was his dad who helped him out of this slump, taking his shitty mood and giving him a "dad talk" that left him feeling like he could conquer the world.

But that wasn't the only reason Kurt was so shocked Rachel was acting that way. There was also the fact that he was the only person in the entire world who knew her biggest secret, that would tear Jesse St James apart if it ever got out.

* * *

Santana had spent the entire day with Blaine. The first thing they had agreed on was not to talk about their significant others the entire time, and to just focus on each other. It helped, because her and Brittany weren't on the best of terms at the moment, having just gotten into a huge fight that almost broke their relationship.

Despite this vow they made, Santana caught Blaine veering off topic to talk about Kurt several times.

It was about 2pm, and Santana had a flight to catch for 4:30. She began to say she had better get going, but before the girl could even finish that sentence, the floodgates opened. for the both of them. Blaine was crying, Santana was crying, hell, even that damn dog probably felt sad. The friends just sat on Blaine's bed, and held each other as the tears came.

"I never thought I'd say this when I first met you Anderson, but I'm going to miss you so fucking much."

Blaine let out the cutest little wet laugh, that made Santana melt into his arms just a little bit more.

"I just feel so a-alone."

"Honey, it's only a year. You can call me whenever, and I promise I will answer and genuinely sit down to have a conversation with you. Even if it's just to rant about boy troubles, or a cool plant you saw outside, I will listen. You don't deserve this, and I know all the other New Directions will take you under their wing this year."

Santana felt honoured to get to see this side of Blaine. Even though it broke her heart, Blaine didn't often show a vulnerable side around others. He was always a leader, planning ahead, and putting everyone before himself. The only person Santana knew of who he was like this around was Kurt, but that didn't count, because the relationship those two had was beyond words.

"I know you have you go, but can we just stay like this a little longer?" Blaine choked out, sounding absolutely broken. He really was going to have a rough year.

* * *

He tried skyping Blaine three times, but the latter never picked up. Despite his shitty mood, Kurt knew his boyfriend would be feeling ten times worse than him after Santana left today. Those two were practically inseparable, and had formed the cutest friendship of all time, minus Kurt and his girls. Finally, on the fourth ring of what was probably the sixth call, Blaine answered, looking like a hot mess, emphasis on _hot_.

Kurt would be lying if he said he didn't feel a pang of jealousy to see Blaine had been crying for her, and he didn't even shed a tear the day the love of his life headed off to New York. Then, Kurt realized how ridiculous that was, knowing Blaine had broken down _after_ he left. Besides the devastated expression and puppy crawling all over his back as he laid down on his stomach on the bed, Blaine was wearing Kurt's old McKinley Phys Ed shirt, yoga pants, sporting loose curls and his cute little glasses.

"I don't appreciate you ignoring my calls, especially not when I know you're sad" Kurt immediately said, because when Blaine purposely didn't answer, it felt like he was being shot, over and over.

"I'm sorry, it's just embarrassing to be seen like this."

"Baby, I've seen you in a lot worse."

This caused Blaine to giggle, and Kurt found himself instinctively reaching out his arms to pull the other boy closer for a kiss, something they always used to do whenever the other laughed. He was expecting to feel smooth skin, so it came as quite a shock when his hands connected with the cold laptop screen. Blaine must've noticed, because his gaze softened dramatically.

"Well, I'm embarrassed now."

"Wait, how was Jesse today? I really hope he didn't give you any trouble honey."

Kurt remained silent for a few moments, and he saw his boyfriend's gaze turn anxious, then defensive all at once.

"What did he do." It wasn't even a question.

"Early this morning, right after he arrived, we all went out for coffee. Jesse was nice to me at first, making small talk on the way over, but once we settled down, his demeanour changed completely. He just started drilling me about my singing voice, and how university was going to be a competition for him, and began to say I sung like a girl. Needless to say, I stormed right out of there, and haven't talked to them since."

"Kurt, you've been through so much crap in your life, and I'm refusing to let you take it from your new roommate."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Blaine began. "I'm going to have quite the chat with my sister and either Jesse is leaving or he's having a massive attitude change, and if neither of those happen, they have to leave."

"I can defend mys- "

"Speaking of, where was Rachel when he was harassing you?"

"Blaine, it isn't that big of a deal."

"Yeah, well it is to me. Where was she?"

"She was agreeing with him" Kurt muttered, but not quiet enough to slip past Blaine's hearing.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Honey, please don't be mad, this isn't your problem"

"I'm not letting her treat you like this."

"How many times do I have to tell you I can handle this by myself?" Kurt snapped, releasing all his pent-up anger out on his boyfriend, who was just trying to help, rather than the two people he who caused this in the first place. "Look, I'm not in Lima with you anymore. I didn't think you were going to be so fucking clingy and overprotective. Get a grip! I can fucking handle this just fine without you intervening, so do me a favour and don't make _yourself_ the center of attention for once."

Even though the screen was blurry and pixelated, Blaine gave him a look that was an exact replica of the one he got the night he found out about Chandler. Absolute heartbreak.

"I hope you're proud of yourself." Was all he said.

Then he disconnected from the call, leaving Kurt alone with nothing but the sounds of the city and his own quiet sobs to keep him occupied.

* * *

Three days later, Kurt still hadn't spoken to any of his roommates since the little _incident_. He also hadn't heard from Blaine, which was beginning to worry him. it was safe to say that Kurt was beating himself up on the inside for snapping at his boyfriend, for being as hurtful as it was, knowing Blaine had just had a shitty day himself. Needing to know how he was, the brunette teen slipped his way into the loft's kitchen on the early Sunday morning, hoping to get some information from the last person he wanted to talk to.

Seeing Rachel curled up in her boyfriend's arms watching a rerun of _I Love Lucy_ , a look of bliss on each of their faces, reminded Kurt of how much this was killing his friend on the inside. Her happiness to be around Jesse was forced, but Rachel played it so well, it was almost impossible to tell. But Kurt knew, Kurt knew her heart was elsewhere, with the last person anybody would expect.

He cleared his through, making both of them jump.

"H-have you heard from Blaine?"

Rachel got up from where she laid, and walked up to Kurt, a look of sincerity in her eyes.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry. You know nothing I said or agreed to was true, right? You know why I'm doing this." She said in a whisper.

"I know, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Besides, that's not what I asked."

Rachel looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"I-I haven't spoken to him for two days. The last time we talked, he was pissed at me for what happened in the coffee shop, and has been ignoring my texts since."

This made Kurt _really_ start to panic, so he quickly walked back to his room, scrolled through his contacts and clicked on the one name he knew would help him get an update on his boyfriend.

"Hello, dad?"

"You've really hurt him this time, kiddo."

Burt Hummel sat on one of the living room chairs in the Hummel-Hudson household, having just finished a delicious home cooked breakfast from his wife. When the phone rang, displaying Kurt's name, he knew exactly what this was about.

Three days ago, at around 11pm, he heard a knock at the door, only to find Blaine Anderson standing at the other end, with tears flowing freely. A long time ago, when he had begun dating Kurt, Burt had told him that no matter what happened between the two, Blaine could always count on his boyfriend's father to be there for him. Even though they were great people, Hiram and Leroy Ander-Berry weren't always around to take care of their children. They were both lawyers, and were often away on business trips across the state, and even when they were home, always seemed to be really focused on his older sister. It was evident that Blaine felt left out, so he always came to see Burt whenever there was trouble that he didn't feel comfortable sharing with his boyfriend.

That night, Blaine explained everything that had happened, but mostly the Skype he'd had with Kurt. Burt was furious that his son would be so self centered to say something like that, especially with how tough of a time Blaine seemed to be having without him. The hazel eyed boy explained that he knew the anger wasn't directed towards him, but it still hurt. He ended up spending the night in Finn's room, because being in Kurt's room hurt too much. The next morning, Burt and Blaine went to the tire shop, while Carole went off to work her shift as a nurse at the local hospital.

"You don't even know how awful I feel about it." Kurt explained through the phone, sounding sincere. "Has he been over?"

"He was here that night and the next day. What you don't understand is how hard this has been for him. While you're off in the big city exploring, seeing Broadway shows, and making a new life for yourself, Blaine is still here, in Lima, all alone. Not only did he lose you that night, he lost his sister as well. Then there was his best friend. I know you miss him just as much as he misses you, but you're both in totally different situations, so I can't help siding with him on this one."

Normally, Kurt would've been pissed his dad isn't with him in an argument, but everything Burt said painfully true, and Kurt was just so tired of fighting with everyone he cared about.

"I wasn't thinking when I snapped at him in the first place, it was completely out of line and I was upset with Rachel, not him." Kurt said, sounding exhausted, which made sense, considering he was never able to get a full night sleep whenever he fought with Blaine.

"How are things with you and Rachel? Has that Jesse kid calmed down a little?  
"I haven't really talked to them since, unless it was absolutely necessary, but I know Blaine hate-called Rachel about it, and she must've said something to Jesse."

"That's good kiddo, you let me know if anything else like that happens, and Blaine and I will be hopping on the first flight over there whether you like it or not."

Kurt laughed, then turned serious as he spoke again.

"Should I try talking to him?"

"Yes, of course. But call him, don't do it over text, so he knows you really mean everything you say."

"Okay thanks, love you dad."

"I love you too, don't screw this up for either of you."

They both hung up, and Kurt put his phone down for a minute to breathe. When had he ever been this nervous to talk to Blaine? They were always totally honest with each other, no matter how much it hurt, and Kurt had always been the one to make the first move to end their fights. So, what made this time any different? It then struck Kurt that this would be the first time they'd have to hopefully make up over phone, and not face to face. Hopefully it'd be the last. Sitting down on his new bed, he called Blaine, really hoping he'd answer.

Just when Kurt thought it'd go to voicemail, a tentative voice picked up on the other end, barely above a whisper. "Hello?"

"Hey" Kurt sighed, relieved.

"Sorry if this isn't your first time calling, I just woke up."

"No, it's fine, why are you sleeping in? It's almost noon." Even though Blaine loved to sleep, Kurt found his boyfriend was always awake before him after they started dating, as an excuse to watch the other sleep, in the most adorable way possible.

"My sleeping schedule has been whacked these past couple days. You aren't the only one who stays up after we fight."

"Look, about that, I'm truly, deeply, genuinely, and a million other adjectives, sorry. I didn't mean a word I said, a-and I know you know I was pissed with your sister and her boyfriend, not you. You've been perfect to me ever since I left, and it made me happy to know how much you cared, even if it didn't seem like it. I was an ass to you, especially after the day you'd had. I love you so much, Blaine, and I hate not talking to you."

"Kurt, I truly, deeply, genuinely, and a million other adjectives, accept your apology. Not talking to you fucking sucks, even if we're mad at each other. You're my best friend, don't ever forget that. And I love you too, until the end of time."

"Until the end of time." Kurt automatically said back, those few words conveying much more than they ever could.

There was a bit of silence between them, until Blaine spoke up again.

"Wanna get freaky over Skype tonight?  
"Ever the charmer." Kurt scoffed, not surprised at how his boyfriend seemed to be in a constant state of horniness. "First, I think the both of us need to make amends with Rachel. If anybody is having a rough time, it's her."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

Kurt thought for a few moments, then decided that despite it all, Blaine needed to know what had happened over the school year. Stepping out his room, then announcing he'd be going for a walk, the coiffed teen quickly left the loft, and the minute he was out the door, put the phone back up to his ear.

"Can you keep a secret?"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

This isn't really necessary to the plot, because we're past that, but just know that in canon Blaine meets Sebastian in 3x05 and we all know where that leads, but because of previous events, that obviously doesn't happen in this story. In an original draft, I planned on it being the Eli C. character who causes trouble between our boys, but there's nothing in here about it, so it's up to you to decide.

* * *

"I seriously have lost all ability to form coherent thoughts right now. Shut the fuck up, no freaking way."

Kurt felt so relieved, to finally get this secret he'd been carrying around for months off his chest, but didn't know what to think.

"I know. How are you feeling?"

"I'm going to need you to repeat everything you just said so I can truly process what I'm hearing."

* * *

It all began right before the New Directions competed for Sectionals, around the time Sam outed Santana and they all had to sing songs for her. Kurt noticed Rachel was acting _differently_. He found out she'd stuffed the ballot box for senior class president, which earned her a week suspension, but even after it was revealed she'd been the culprit, her attitude never changed, not like it did. Then, since Blaine was really focused on helping Santana through all the stuff she was going through, which was fine, Kurt noticed something was up with Quinn as well.

The day of the competition, as the Glee club all stood around the choir room, preparing for their performance, somebody pointed out that both Rachel and Quinn were absent. Kurt had volunteered to go look for the girls, and after a search of each hallway and the auditorium, they were nowhere to be seen. He had then gone to the girls bathroom, which was strangely locked. After rapping his fist against the door, a few minutes later it was opened by Quinn, who's state revealed everything.

Her hair was messy, like someone had been running their fingers through it, and her lipstick was smeared, but it looked as if she'd tried to clean it up before opening the door. Kurt automatically knew she'd been fooling around with someone in there, and pushed open the door, only to have his jaw drop through the floor.

Rachel was standing there, quickly zipping up her dress, and trying to fix her hair. She wasn't quick enough, because Kurt caught sight of a hickey the size of Ohio right under the girl's collarbone. Everyone turned bright red, and Kurt's eyebrows shot up to his hairline in confusion.

"What the- "

"Kurt, please." Quinn began in a panic. "Let us explain?"

"What about Jesse, Rachel?" He demanded, shifting his gaze to the smaller girl.

"All I know is that he isn't here, we aren't together, and people move on."

"H-how long?"

"Since you and Blaine sung that song for Santana, so about two weeks." Quinn cut in, sounding frantic. "I had gone to Rachel's for the night, and we were talking about how fast Blaine had gone from a straight player, to completely whipped for you." Despite it all, Kurt still smiled at that, his boyfriend sure was whipped. "And then we got to talking about how someone can be so sure of their sexuality if they haven't even kissed both genders. So we tried it, and it felt a _lot_ better than both of us had intended, and we've been hooking up ever since."

"Wait, like _hooking_ hooking up?"

"No! At least, not yet." Rachel exclaimed, directing that last part towards Quinn with a flirtatious tone in her voice.

"Are you two like, dating?"

"It's a no to that as well. Quinn and I have fully acknowledged we're both going our own ways next year, so we've decided to make these last few months count. No feelings involved, and you can't tell a single soul about this, especially not my brother. Neither one of us think we're lesbian, so there's no point of making a big scene about it."

"But, you'd still be at least bisexual."

"I thought you didn't think that existed, Kurt." Quinn said knowingly, remembering the fight he'd gotten in with Brittany last year when it became common knowledge she'd been seeing Santana while still with Artie.

"My views have changed. I'll keep this quiet, but that doesn't mean I have a good feeling about it. However, it's not my place to stop you, and don't expect me to choose a side when this all comes crashing and burning."

The girls obviously didn't listen to his advice, and Kurt felt a nagging guilt every time somebody casually mentioned the words "Rachel" or "Quinn" together in a sentence. He kept his mouth shut however, and let the two lovers do their thing.

Then, during Michael week, Kurt had his first encounter with Sebastian ever since his time at Dalton. This had sent him into one of his lowest states, and wouldn't have been able to recover as quick as he did, had it not been for Blaine. His boyfriend never left his side, constantly assuring him he was loved, and making sure Kurt would never have to see Sebastian again.

Completely behind his back, Blaine challenged the Warblers to a duel so they could decide who would be able to perform Michael Jackson songs at Regionals this year. It wasn't a secret for long, when a slushy filled with what turned out to be rock salt was thrown at Blaine, almost blinding him. What had been a boring afternoon watching reality TV in his pyjamas, suddenly turned to Kurt rushing to the hospital to get to his boyfriend. Blaine was out of commission for a few weeks, and during this time, it was discovered Quinn got into Yale. When she stood in front of the choir room, making this big announcement, the entire time her gaze was focused on Rachel, who stormed out of rehearsal at the words "You can't change your past, but you can let go and start your future".

He followed his best friend all the way out to her car, where she climbed into the front seat and just cried, explaining that Quinn had ended things between them when she got her news about college, and how stupid she'd been to fall in love with her. Kurt predicted this would happen, especially knowing how open Rachel was with her feelings. He comforted her as she cried, listening to the girl repeat over and over how unfair it was, that even though she'd be in the city of her dreams, it wouldn't be the same without the person she loved. This touched Kurt, knowing he'd be in the same situation if he got into NYADA. He asked her what they were going to do when Jesse moved in, and Rachel decided she'd try as hard as she could to be in love with him again, because Quinn wouldn't be around.

Kurt also talked to Quinn, hoping to hear her side of things. Unfortunately, she was just as wrecked as Rachel, and confessed to having feelings for the brunette too, that could never be shared unless they wanted to complicate things even more. For the next few months, the girls barely communicated, and had ceased any _extracurricular_ activities completely. A lot of people were wondering what caused this split, to which one of them explained that they'd gotten in a huge fight, and had no plans of making up. It was hard to lie constantly, but it was much better than the alternative.

* * *

Blaine was sort of taking the news better the second time around. First, he'd burst out laughing, then it sounded like he was crying, then he began singing some Bruno Mars song to calm down. A whirlwind of feelings were going through him, but the high school senior felt mostly pitiful, that his sister had to go through this behind everyone's backs. It also took him a few minutes to decide if he was mad with Kurt for not telling him about it, but then he decided against it not only because they'd just fought, but because it made sense to keep this a secret.

"Honey, are you feeling better now?" Kurt asked, still on the other line.

"Yeah, this is just so weird. I mean, not because it's two girls, I'm not homophobic- "

"Blaine, we're gay."

"Right. Anyways, I just find it weird because it's my sister and all. And Quinn? Like sure, besides Santana, she's the prettiest girl I know, but I just never pegged either of them to have a love affair with each other. It's really terrible the shit they went through towards the end though, and it sucks I'm not able to talk to Rachel about it."

"I know how you feel. After our little heart to heart in the car and my chat with Quinn, both ignored me every time I tried to speak about it, denying it ever happened. It just feels so strange to see Rachel with Jesse, knowing how hard she's trying to find a spark with him, and how hopeless it seems. You never saw how Quinn and Rachel were, it was almost _Klaine_ level chemistry."

"Klaine?"

"That's our couple name, like a combination of both mine and yours. I was bored yesterday, so I surfed the internet and found a website where I entered our names, and it told me what our relationship should be called. It has a nice ring to it if you ask me."

"You are ridiculous, Hummel." Blaine said with a laugh, and Kurt could practically see the loving eye roll his boyfriend would've been making. "Although I don't think anybody could ever come close to 'Klaine level chemistry' my friend."

"That's true. Alright, I think I've been out here long enough to raise Rachel's suspicions, so I better go."

Blaine groaned in protest, then reminded Kurt of his request for a sexy Skype later, which Kurt completely ignored, to instead say their usual ending to all phone calls.

"Until the end of time, B."

"Until the end of time."

* * *

As he slid open the loft's heavy door, Kurt noticed that Jesse wasn't inside. Rachel was puttering around the kitchen, right now in the process of cleaning the counters. She looked up when Kurt arrived, but was too afraid to say anything, in fear he was still mad at her.

"Just got off the phone with Blaine."

"That's nice, is he still mad at me?" She asked, hoping to convey how she was really wondering if Kurt was still mad with her, and not her brother.

"At first, yeah, we both were. But then we decided to both drop the hard feelings with you."

Rachel looked up from where she cleaned, then strode across the room to wrap Kurt in a tight hug, and muttered out a genuine "Thank you". As she turned her back to him, to continue working, Kurt decided to tell Rachel about the _other_ part of their phone call.

"I told Blaine about you and Quinn."

She dropped the rag she'd been holding, and whipped around to face him.

"You didn't." Was all Rachel said, but surprisingly, she didn't sound too mad.

"We have a thing going where we never keep things from each other. It's been months and I felt like I was betraying the very fundamentals of our relationship by not telling him. Besides, he's your brother, and the one person who loves you more than me. If he tells anyone, I'll be shocked."

"It's good to know at least _one_ of us is in a happy relationship."

"How's it going with Jesse? Do you have feelings for him?"

"I honestly don't know, Kurt. This is all so messed up. Like, I love him, but I'm just not _in_ love with him, if that makes any sense?" He nodded, knowing exactly how that felt. "Besides what he said to you, which we're both _really_ sorry for, Jesse is a fantastic guy. But, he just isn't Quinn. He doesn't make me feel the way she did."

"Aw, honey, I know how hard it's been for you to get over her. And I do know that one day, Jesse will be able to replace Quinn, but it just isn't happening yet. As sad as you seem around him, I've been able to see how much he cares for you, and there are moments, like at the airport, where I could tell you were truly happy to be with him. It'll just take time."

"Thanks, Kurt. This really means a lot."

Her phone began to ring, and the caller ID displayed Blaine's name, so Rachel excused herself from the conversation, and Kurt went over to his room, to continue his earlier sketches of designer outfits.

* * *

Freshman orientation for NYADA came and went, leaving Kurt, Rachel, and Jesse feeling more confident about the year to come. Their first day was a blast, except for the fact Rachel seemed to be having a lot of trouble with her dance teacher, Cassandra July. Things between Kurt and Jesse had eased up over the weeks before school, and Rachel seemed to begin to genuinely want to be around her boyfriend. Blaine was doing a lot better emotionally, and had just been voted as the "New Rachel" in glee club, a concept Kurt found absolutely ridiculous.

Around mid-September, Jesse had his first audition for an off-Broadway show, and landed a role in the chorus. Everyone was beyond proud of him, and he was elated to start rehearsals. The college freshman's schedule was packed, meaning he was barely around at the loft anymore. Kurt spent his free time working on an application for , while Rachel focused on her studies for school.

Meeting Isabelle Wright had Kurt feeling a whole bunch of emotions. He'd gone into the interview scared for his life, but left feeling like he'd just encountered an old friend. The two clicked right off the bat, and it was no surprise he got the job as an unpaid intern.

* * *

However, not everything could be as perfect as it was seeming to be forever. His first few weeks at Vogue were everything, and so much more, but Kurt found himself attending meeting after meeting, and somehow having less time to talk to Blaine. He felt so shitty every time he had to decline his boyfriend's calls for work, or barely had time to talk when he ended up answering, and he hoped Blaine understood how busy he'd been.

But, Blaine didn't understand. He didn't understand how a nightly Skype call had turned into a weekly one, and even then, it sounded rushed and like a chore, rather than two lovers talking. He didn't understand why Kurt seemed so distant. He didn't understand why even though he'd won senior class president, it was for nothing, since he didn't have the one person he loved more than anyone to share it with.

The dark-haired boy talked to Rachel frequently, and used her to get updates on Kurt's wellbeing It was only after a few calls, that the truth came through to Blaine. Kurt was done with him, but was too nice to say so. It was so obvious, why _would_ you want an anchor from your past, who was only half the person you'd ever be, tied to your present, which was nothing but one achievement after the other? This brought out a new level of insecurity out in Blaine, and he began to doubt himself day after day, and slowly stopped talking to everybody he cared about. First, it was Kurt, who hardly even noticed him in the first place, then it was Rachel, followed by Santana, then finally, Burt. As much as he loved his boyfriend's father, being around him reminded Blaine far too much of Kurt, and it did _not_ make him feel good.

It wasn't too long before he sat alone in the choir room one day, scrolling through his Facebook, when a notification popped up, saying he'd been _poked_ by Eli C. Blaine poked him back, just out of curiosity, but then saw he'd gotten a message from him, that felt a little too close for comfort. Even though things with Kurt were almost non-existent, Blaine would never, ever betray his trust. And especially not with somebody he barely knew, like Eli. But, this message reminded him that no matter how much it'd hurt, he knew he needed to see where he stood with his boyfriend, and some phone conversation wasn't going to cut it this time. So, he texted Rachel, ignoring the messages she'd been sending him over the past few days, asking how he was, and told her about his plan.

 **Blaine:** Hi, sorry. I've needed time to think, and I've decided to come surprise Kurt in New York.

 **Rachel:** That's so sweet! Text me details.

 **Blaine** : I just checked the flight websites, and the earliest one I can get is October fourth. I'll need you to sneak over to pick me up, and then we can drive back to your apartment together.

 **Rachel:** Sounds like a plan! Jesse's going into previews for his show that week, and Kurt has it marked on the calendar he's taking a vacation from work as well, so that actually works out perfectly, see you then B! Love you xx

Rachel sounded awfully upbeat for somebody who knew Blaine was only going to New York so Kurt could break up with him in person and get it over with.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**

These next two chapters are short because it's the huge climax of the story, yes, the one I dreamt about, brace yourself. fortheloveofgoddonotskipaheadandruinit

* * *

Thursdays always made Kurt feel in a weirdly down mood. It was something about knowing you were past the middle of the week, and tomorrow would be the start of the weekend, that left Kurt in a slump every single time a Thursday rolled around. Not only that, but he knew things with him and Blaine were coming to an end. The long distance was killing them both, and even though they were each other's worlds, Kurt knew they were going to have to mutually agree that a break was what their relationship needed. He knew they'd be able to fall back into place once Blaine graduated and moved to New York, but for now, life had been just too crazy to focus on their relationship. The only thing is, Blaine hadn't been talking to him, like at all, so Kurt wondered how they'd be able to come to that agreement. He debated on going back to Lima, but work and school came first, and he'd already booked a trip home for Christmas. It was only October 4th, so there was still quite a while before that happened.

Work had been especially tough today. A critic had come in, to review all the progress the interns had been making, and to send a few home who weren't fit enough for the promotion. Kurt had been on his heels trying to impress the middle-aged man, making sure everything he did was meticulous, which left him exhausted by the time he'd gotten back to the loft. He'd napped for a few hours, then went for a bit of shopping with Rachel, who was in a peppy mood today, but that was like her normal self so it didn't raise any suspicions. Jesse was gone all day, and still hadn't been home, so it was just to two of them that night. Around 9pm or so, Rachel randomly got up from where she sat next to Kurt watching TV, and said she had to go run an errand. This was pretty weird, considering the time, and why she hadn't done said errand while they were out earlier.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Kurt asked, not really wanting to go, because he was _so_ comfy where he laid eating a tub of strawberry ice cream, but offering anyways.

"No!" Rachel quickly cut in. "I need to pick up something for you."

"Sounds exciting. Okay, I won't keep you, have fun."

"Love you!" She called, before exiting the loft.

A million possible ideas ran through Kurt's mind of where she could be going. His birthday wasn't until the end of May, so he highly doubted she'd be getting something for that. It was too early for any Christmas shopping as well.

There was only one thing that was fitting all the information Kurt had, and he _really_ wasn't liking the thought of it.

* * *

It was hard navigating the airport, but Rachel used her memory from when she picked up Jesse to guide her. She finally arrived where she was supposed to go, only to see Blaine standing there in a dark gray jacket, over a black sweater vest and a blue button up with a plaid collar. He was wearing black jeans, and his curls were tightly gelled, which was strange, because Blaine had stopped using gel completely over a year ago, knowing how much easier it was to style his hair that way, but mostly because how much Kurt liked it natural. He was looking around the airport nervously, luggage in hand, visibly relaxing when he caught sight of his sister. The pair hugged, but it was hard to be excited to see him because sadness was practically radiating off of Blaine, and it was evident how hard these past few months had been on him.

The boy who used to be Rachel's sarcastic, attractive, and peppy brother had been replaced by this new Blaine. This Blaine had bags under his eyes, showing how exhausted he really was, and looked as if he'd aged twenty years since she'd last seen him. His eyes, which were his most striking feature in her opinion, because you could _always_ read them, were nothing but cold and dull, the light completely gone from them. They were glassy as well, like Blaine was barely holding back tears. This broke Rachel. He'd been alone for what, three months, and he already looked like this? How would he possible survive the next few, especially having lost the love of his life?

Blaine followed Rachel out of the airport, and to the car rental place, where he had rented one for his brief stay in New York. It had begun to pour rain outside, so both siblings were soaked by the time they'd found the right car and gotten inside. Rachel had offered to drive, knowing her brother was in no condition to be on the road right now, but Blaine insisted he was fine. He punched in the address on the provided GPS, and the two were on their way.

It was silent for a while, Rachel was scared to try to talk to her own brother, not wanting to say the wrong thing and piss him off. It was obvious he knew his future with Kurt was not looking too good, and it must've been why Blaine decided to come to New York in the first place. Rachel didn't have to worry about conversation starters after it turned out to be Blaine who spoke first after all.

"He's going to break up with me." It wasn't even a question.

"It's not my place to say, but I know he doesn't want to. You should see how much of a mess he is. I do think you two need to call it quits while you still care about each other, so when you come here next year, you two won't be on bad terms so it'll be easier to get back together again, if that's what you want."

"Of course that's what I want! I don't want anyone or anything else. But I know what you mean, it's just really hard to think of him seeing other people, and life without him."

"Blaine, I highly doubt Kurt will become promiscuous or anything, but I can't guarantee you'll both stay devoted to each other during your time apart either."

Blaine only nodded, eyes still focused on the road. Then, he began to cry, and not just little tears, it was full sobs. Rachel reached out and put a hand on his knee, rubbing soothing circles, as her brother tried to form sentences about how much this would hurt, and how he can't be alone anymore.

"Blaine, I think you should let me drive for a little. It's hard to focus on the road when you're crying."

"I'm fi-fine."

"No, you very clearly aren't, please let me drive." Rachel was starting to get worried for both of their safeties now.

Blaine didn't say anything, choosing to ignore her as he cried even harder, gripping onto the steering wheel as if it were life support.

"I seriously don't think this is safe Blaine, especially not on the highway. Just pull over or some- "

"Shut the fuck up, Rachel! Seriously, sometimes you are just so goddamn annoying."

This caused her to recoil, removing her hand from her brother's knee as if it burned her to touch. She sat back in her seat, and dropped the subject, facing forward.

He had only taken his hands off the wheel for a second to wipe at his wet eyes when it happened.

Little did he know, but that was the last conversation Blaine Anderson would ever have with his older sister.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**

Fiddlesticks.

* * *

It was well past 11pm now, and Kurt was starting to get worried. Where the hell was Rachel? He had tried to get ready for bed, but couldn't, because of the anticipation surrounding this "surprise" she was bringing. Deep in his heart, he knew it was Blaine. He also knew that she shouldn't have been taking so long, and jumped up from bed and sprinted to the door the second he'd heart it slide open. Unfortunately, it was only Jesse, returning from rehearsal.

"Hey, Kurt!" He exclaimed. "Didn't know you'd be so happy to see me."

"This isn't funny. Rachel left over two hours ago to pick up a, quote, _surprise for me_ and I haven't heard from her since. I have a gut feeling she's gone to the airport to pick up Blaine, but wouldn't she be home by now?"

"If it were that, just know that flights get delayed all the time, so maybe he won't be landing until later. Have you tried calling her?"

"Yes, dumbass. Why aren't you panicking?"

"Um, why are you?" Jesse asked, sounding genuinely curious. "May I remind you, this is Rachel Berry we're talking about. That girl made this city her bitch the minute she set foot in it."

Kurt couldn't even find the strength to laugh at that. His anxiety was through the roof right now, and he had begun to pace back and forth in the apartment.

He wished he could be like Jesse, and just dismiss this as nothing, but the connection he had with Blaine made that impossible. It was as if there was a tether attached between the two boys, and they couldn't break it as hard as they tried. Whenever one was in a down mood, the other would always get a gut feeling and _know_ , which ended in him doing the most he could to cheer his boyfriend up. Tonight, something felt different. Kurt knew something had happened, but he was too damn terrified to admit it.

At twelve o'clock, right after Jesse went to bed, the phone rang. Kurt pounced to pick it up, but felt his heart plummet when he saw it was an unknown number. He answered the call anyways, hoping to hear some news about Rachel and maybe Blaine.

"Hello?"

"Is this Kurt Hummel?" A monotone female voice asked on the other end.

"Yes."

"Kurt, there's been an accident, involving Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson. You need to come to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue as soon as you can." Kurt felt like he'd been shot. The lady said some more, but it all felt muffled to him. It was then that he calmly set the phone down on the kitchen table and cried out, completely broken, and curled up on the floor. This woke Jesse up, who came running into the room to see what had happened. Kurt didn't remember being able to talk, but he must've said enough, because the next thing he could remember was sitting in the hospital waiting room, waiting to hear what had happened.

* * *

It could've been three minutes or three hours, but then a young female doctor came out, and Kurt and Jesse both rushed over to him. She then explained what had happened, in an emotionless voice, just like the lady over the phone. It was funny, how you could become so used to tragedy you suddenly lost all feeling about it.

"I'm assuming you're Kurt Hummel. My name is Doctor Reyes, and I've been in with Blaine for the past few hours. Here's what we know so far."

Kurt sucked in a breath, preparing to hear the worst from this completely surreal situation.

"Around 9:55pm, with Blaine in the driver's seat, his sister in the passengers, the car hit a deer on the road, sending them both into a ditch. The car landed on it's right side, and the crash killed Rachel on impact, having been already dead when paramedics arrived at the scene around 10:13pm."

"Wait, I'm sorry, Rachel _died_?" Jesse questioned, doubting what he'd just heard.

"There was nothing we could do." The doctor explained, and Jesse just stood there for a few moments, paralyzed, before running out of the building.

"What a-about Blaine?" Kurt sobbed, freely crying now.

"He's alive, but barely. We think that when the car landed, Blaine Anderson was jerked forward, and smashed his head off the steering wheel, giving him a severe head injury. He had a few broken ribs, and his left leg had been crushed, so it's broken as well. Mr. Anderson suffered a minor spinal injury, and was unconscious when he was found. He's in surgery right now for his leg, but our biggest concern is his head."

"What type of head injury is it?"

"We've dealt with a lot of car accident victims before. From experience, our biggest concern with injuries like Blaine Anderson's are memory loss. Because of the way he hit his head, Mr. Anderson will indeed be suffering from amnesia, but we aren't sure exactly how much memory he will in fact lose. With an injury like this however, x-rays have showed that a part of his brain has been permanently damaged, so there'd be no way of getting those lost memories back. We're suspecting he'd lose at least 2-3 years, but we can't be certain until he wakes up."

Blaine had only known Kurt for a year and a half. There was no chance his boyfriend would be waking up to remember he existed. To think, he was planning on how to easily part ways with him just a few hours ago seemed so insignificant to what was happening now.

'I-I think I'm going to need a few minutes to myself to process this."

"Take all the time you need, Mr. Hummel."

That was all Kurt needed to hear before he was sprinting out of the building, following right in Jesse's footsteps.

* * *

He ran into his roommate not even a block later, sitting on a public bench, with his head in his hands, body wracking with sobs. Kurt gingerly sat next to him, and they both just cried. For the next few minutes, the loud sounds of New York were replaced with nothing but sorrow and despair. It was hard to believe something like this was happening, and Kurt had to slam his hand off the bench five times to confirm this was in fact just not some terrible nightmare.

Jesse said something, but the other didn't catch it.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Kurt asked, not even recognizing his own voice. It was raw and filled with pain.

"Is Blaine o-okay?"

He didn't know what to say to that, because yes, he was alive, but he sure wasn't okay. Still refusing to believe what the doctor had said, because in what world would Blaine ever forget him? They were soulmates, for God's sake. Yet, Kurt still explained what he knew about Blaine's condition to Jesse, despite his doubts over most of it.

"I can't believe I spent the past few months of my girlfriend's life barely even focused on her. It's funny, how the world works, taking the most important people from your lives without even letting you say goodbye. I-I can't even remember the last thing I said to her."

Kurt remembered what he'd said to Rachel, and how she told Kurt she loved him right before leaving, how he never said it back. If he had known what would happen, what would've he done? What would've changed? But that wasn't the part that bothered him the most. When Jesse said the world _girlfriend_ , Kurt's mind immediately went to Quinn Fabray, probably studying in a dorm room in the middle of New Haven, oblivious to anything going on. A sudden realization struck Kurt that he didn't know if he'd be able to handle.

"W-we have to call their parents."

* * *

Nothing could've prepared neither Kurt nor Jesse for the call they'd just ended. Jesse had to do most of the talking, because the minute Kurt heard Hiram Ander-Berry's voice on the other end, he collapsed back into his previous crying state, and had to sit out. The other boy left the phone on speaker, and hearing how two people reacted to tragedy, involving their own two kids, was something Kurt knew he'd _never_ forget. It was indescribable, and by the end, everyone was sobbing. The fathers promised to be on their way to New York as soon as they could, and Jesse ended the call a few minutes later, to give them time alone.

As the curly haired teen dialed his mom's phone number with shaky hands, Kurt stood up, walked a few steps away, and called his house. After about one ring, a sleepy sounding Carole picked up on the other end.

"Kurt, is everything alright?"

"Put the phone on speaker, and wake my dad up, please." He choked out.

There was the sound of rustling on the other end, but it sounded urgent. Burt soon spoke, sounding suddenly very alert.

"Kurt?"

"T-there's been an accident, with B-Blaine and Rachel." Kurt explained, letting the words just pour out before he could even stop himself. "She's dead, dad. Rachel is d-dead." There was a gasp on the other end. "I think Blaine was coming to surprise me, so she was picking him up from the airport. He's alive, but with severe injuries. But their biggest concern is-" He stopped, having to face the reality of the situation once and for all. "H-his head. The doctor said he's going to suffer from permanent mem-memory loss, and won't remember _at least_ the past two years of his life."

He heard Carole begin to mutter under her breath, something she always did whenever she tried not to cry. It didn't work for long though, because Kurt soon heard a faint sob on the other end. His dad spoke again, obviously trying to play the strong role, since he sounded incredibly collected, despite his connection to Blaine.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry for your loss. This is unbelievable, and it's going to take a long time for things to feel right again, you remember how it was after your mother died."

"Is there a-a catch to this?" Kurt questioned, knowing his father all too well.

"I hate to spring this on you, considering your current state, but you need to hear this before Blaine wakes up. You were going to _break up_ with him tonight, because you two couldn't do long distance. Think about this, he's going to wake up, with memory loss, not knowing who you are. Losing two years of memory means he'll have the mindset of a tenth grader, and if you stay in New York, means you'll have to do _three_ years apart. There's also the fact he'll probably have to go through a lot of physical therapy. You can't just walk in there, claiming you're his boyfriend, especially not knowing if he's going to wake up gay or straight, and what it'll do to his amnesia. As hard as it'll be for you, you need to cut him out of your life completely, at least until he gets better. Who knows what seeing you will do to him? The Blaine you and I know, is gone. I suggest you keep in touch with his parents without his knowledge, and when he's fully recovered and ready, and you're still willing, meet him then, and maybe you two will fall in love."

What his dad said made sense, but it felt like a stab to the heart. Just when he thought it would only be one, Kurt realized he'd be losing two Ander-Berry siblings tonight.

* * *

Packing up the loft was one of the hardest parts. Kurt knew he needed to listen to his dad's advice, so four days later, with Hiram and LeRoy at the hospital 24/7, hoping their son would wake up soon, Kurt sat throwing everything he had into boxes. He couldn't even go near Rachel's room, but still managed to get ahold of her favourite animal sweater for Quinn, and packed it away with all his things. It smelled just like her, and Kurt cried for twenty minutes straight. As for Jesse, he planned to stay in New York, quitting his Broadway show, and continuing with NYADA. His mom was coming up tomorrow to visit for support, but Kurt wouldn't get to see her, because his train to New Haven left this afternoon.

He had decided to go stay with Quinn for a while, and the two were going to invest in a small apartment somewhere. Kurt needed to isolate himself from everything for a while, and felt happiness for the first time since the accident when Mercedes said she'd come to live with them as long as her record label let her. This had proven to be a hard time for everyone, and they were all coping with it in completely different ways.

But, nothing hurt Kurt Hummel more than leaving Blaine.

He had to throw out everything of his he'd brought to New York, because he couldn't bear to look at it. Pictures from prom, sweaters, and love notes, filled Kurt's trash bin to the brim. He deleted Blaine's number from his phone, knowing he wouldn't need it anymore, since his boyfriend's cell was destroyed in the wreck. Were they even boyfriends anymore? It then dawned on Kurt that they weren't, but they also weren't official exes either.

Boarding a train to see his best friends and begin and new life without Kurt's one true love never felt more bittersweet.

* * *

It wasn't until exactly one week after Kurt left that it happened. Hiram had gone to get lunches for him and his husband at the hospital cafeteria, while LeRoy sat by his son's bedside, mindlessly talking to him about random things he found interesting.

Then, Blaine began to stir, which wasn't unusual, since he'd always been a rough sleeper, even hooked up to several IV tubes in a medically induced coma.

What made it unusual, was that Blaine's eyelids slowly rolled open right as his other father entered the room, carrying two sandwiches and cups of coffee.

"Dads?" He questioned, voice groggy from all the meds. "Why am I in a hospital? Where's Rachel?"


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**

This is like the "where are they now" part on those reality TV shows, meaning this chapter isn't too long. The story isn't set (well like the ending) until two years later, so another time jump will be coming soon.

* * *

One year later and Blaine still missed his sister every damn day. He'd lost the last three years of his life, knowing it'd be impossible to get them back. The last thing he could remember before the car accident they'd been in, taking Rachel's life, was sitting in ninth grade biology class, bored out of his mind, and crushing on the cute girl across the room, Angelica Kelly.

Blaine had really wanted to date her.

When he'd woken up, his parents told him they'd been in New York on a family vacation to visit his older sister who was attending university there, and Blaine had been driving Rachel back to their hotel after seeing a small concert in Central Park. He'd gone off road by accident, killing her, and losing his memory with it. It was hard to blame himself for the accident, because he couldn't remember anything, but Blaine still felt a pang of guilt every time he'd hear her name in conversation, or see a picture of the happy family on one of the walls. He'd also been informed some basic information on what he'd forgotten, like how the family moved to Ohio after a job offer came up. He found out the massive golden retriever in their house belonged to him, and was a gift so he could adjust to life in another state. Blaine had a lot of questions back then, and his fathers never faltered on answering them.

The first few months were hard. After weeks of physical therapy in that New York hospital, Blaine was finally approved to go back home to Lima. He had to get his own therapist where they lived, and she sent the family packing to a town called Westerville, recommending a school called Dalton Academy, which would be the best option in helping Blaine academically, to get back the three and a half years of education he'd forgotten. The idea of attending a private school wasn't ideal for Blaine, but he soon began to love Dalton. He had a personal tutor at the school, who vowed to have Blaine finished his high school education in two years' maximum. The amount of work he'd been having to do was hard, but it helped, because Blaine turned out to be academically brilliant. Once all his injuries were healed, around March, he formed the Dalton baseball team and boxing club, where he was team captain and leader on both.

For dating life, everything was going smoothly. He may have been going through a shitty time, but that didn't stop Blaine from being a normal 17-year-old boy in a 14-year old's mindset. Going to an all-boys school, and finding it's attendees attractive, made Blaine realize that he was in fact probably gay. He came out to his dads and mom with ease, knowing they wouldn't care. His crush at the time, just happened to be his school tutor. What could he say? The college freshman was a complete teenage dream. He had coiffed brown hair, and dreamy green eyes that Blaine often found himself getting lost in. Sebastian Smythe was gorgeous. Blaine wanted to date him _so_ bad. This hopeless crush had been going on for almost the entire time Blaine had been at Dalton, which was almost a full school year now, seeing as it was already May. Unfortunately, it was so obvious Sebastian didn't like him back, and even if he did, they would never work out because Blaine was a minor.

Deciding to come home for the weekend, since he boarded at Dalton, Blaine sat at the piano, playing a few songs he'd been hearing on the radio, and ones that reminded him of his sister. He only remembered the first year living with the Berry family, but it wasn't one to forget. Blaine and Rachel clicked like two peas in a pod, and had gotten along without a hitch. It sucked he'd never get to see her again.

* * *

Kurt Hummel was living life to the fullest. He'd taken a gap year from NYADA, which would be up in a few months, since it was almost summer again. Still living close to the Yale campus with Quinn, everything was great. At first, there'd been a lot of crying. Like, _a lot_. Then, once Mercedes left after a six week stay, Quinn and Kurt decided to move on with their lives. The former cheerleader began seeing a lot of older men, which Kurt found ridiculous, but was hardly one to judge. If that was how she grieved, so be it. Then, Quinn began taking her friend to every college party she'd gotten invited to, where they'd both turn their grief for lost lovers into body shots and strip teases. Kurt unintentionally attracted a lot of attention at these parties, and had both boys and girls begging for him to take them home. At first, he was reluctant, wondering what Blaine would do if he found out, then remembered that the boy he'd been so in love with was dead, and never coming back. He began taking men home, having elicit relations that couldn't even last more than 36 hours. It got to a point where he didn't even care what they looked like, as long as he could give Kurt a good fuck, to erase any memory of Blaine Anderson, just like Kurt had so easily been erased from his.

Quinn noticed how out of hand things were getting, and around January, sat him down for an intervention. Not caring what she had to say at first, his wake-up call came when he saw Burt Hummel walk into the apartment. He'd gotten one of the worst lectures he'd ever received, and vowed to be a better person because of it. Kurt spent the next few months looking for a place to live back in New York, because he sure as hell wasn't moving in with Jesse again. He also made sure to be there for Quinn or Mercedes whenever they needed, and ended up going on a month-long trip to LA to help the latter when she had issues with her album cover. Kurt was beyond ready to go back to New York at this point, needing to get back to normal as soon as possible.

* * *

"What are your plans for University, Blaine?" Sebastian said, in that silky smooth voice of his.

"I plan on going to New York in my sister's footsteps, but not for Broadway. I love kids, and plan on becoming a teacher."

"I'm sure you'll get into anything you want. I have an ex-boyfriend who went there for school actually, don't know what happened to him."

Sebastian knew exactly what he'd signed up for when agreeing to tutor Blaine Anderson. When the job first became available, he'd refused over his dead body. But then he'd heard about the accident, and what Blaine had been through, and immediately felt like it he _needed_ to help him. Despite everything, Blaine was a great guy. He'd forgiven Sebastian for almost _blinding_ him, in a scenario that felt like forever ago. Sebastian almost let Kurt's name slip a few times during their tutoring sessions, but caught himself before saying anything, remembering how strictly he'd been warned not to bring the boy up. The only downside to this, was the Blaine had totally been crushing on him, and despite how adorable he was, it all felt _wrong_. Sebastian had only seen Kurt and Blaine around each other a few times, since him and his ex weren't the best of friends, but it was obvious those two were meant to be. It completely shocked him when he realized he was happy for Kurt, because he deserved it, especially after how awful Sebastian had treated him.

* * *

Once tutoring and a brief baseball practice were over, Blaine found himself driving home again. It'd taken him almost the entire year to learn how to drive again, but he'd finally mastered it last week. Tonight, his dads wanted him home for a family dinner, before they went away to fulfill lawyer duties over in Columbus.

The house was empty for now, and Blaine was incredibly bored as he cuddled the weirdly named Margaret Thatcher-Dog on the family couch, playing a game on his new phone. After a few more rounds of _Candy Crush_ , the Anderson boy stood up, finally hanging up the Dalton blazer he'd just kicked to the floor, and decided to go through old videos and scrapbooks around the house, something that became a habit of his. He found one devoted solely to his father as a kid, and laughed hysterically at the crazy baby pictures it displayed. But, it was in a box Blaine had never seen before, marked _2011_ where he found _it_. Inside the box were mostly photos of Rachel, and a bunch of CDs, but there was one thing that really caught his eye.

There was one disk, in a clear case, with a few words written across it in sharpie, that intrigued Blaine enough to pop it into their DVD player to see what it was.

Those few words were _Glee's Big Christmas Special_.

* * *

Even states away, Kurt Hummel felt an abrupt feeling from the pit of his stomach that he remembered all too well.

Something was happening with Blaine.

* * *

He figured it must've been something on TV that year but couldn't figure out why his parents would have it saved. As the opening credits came on, parodying _Star Wars_ , Blaine smiled. Then, he saw a girl's face he recognized all too well displayed across the screen, and didn't even have to hear the announcer say her name before knowing it was Rachel. He reached for the remote and paused the special, and took a moment to himself, confused as to why his sister was even on TV in the first place. After regaining some composure, he hit play, to see something that shocked even more. Standing there, looking lovingly at what had to be the most attractive boy he'd ever seen, while he adjusted his bowtie, was himself. Then Blaine mentally high fived himself, wondering what he would've had to do to get such a gorgeous human being to even agree to be on TV with him.

Once the opening credits ended, Blaine sat back on the couch, rather amused at the scene that played out. It began with him and the hot guy from before, sitting in some kind of winter chalet, enjoying each other's company. He almost choked when they suddenly began to sing a duet together, his eyes automatically gluing to the screen. Blaine and this other boy sounded _amazing_ together, and they had every dance move down to a t. He briefly wondered if this were some famous actor he was starring in this Christmas special with, and made a mental note to talk to his dads about it when they got home.

After the number, the two boys opened the front door, talking to the camera like it was a living person. The cute one introduced the two, saying his name was Kurt, and awkwardly stuttering on the part where he said Blaine was his 'holiday roommate' which he found strange. How come he didn't remember this? Of all the things he could've forgotten, he managed to forget this Kurt boy completely, which was really a shame, considering how beautiful he was. Blaine really hoped the two were at least friends.

Later, TV Blaine and Kurt heard a loud knock on the door, which masked the sound of the front door opening in real life for Blaine. It had just gotten to the part where Rachel showed up on screen when his dads were racing over, turning off the TV as quick as possible.

"What are you doing?" Hiram demanded.

"I found this in one of the boxes you have stored downstairs." Blaine replied, but he wasn't finished. "Dads, who is Kurt Hummel?"

* * *

Kurt was currently out for one of his infamous runs around campus. Except, there was no urgency or pressure to it, like there had been two years ago, after junior year. It was the middle of spring, and he'd really been enjoying the beauty of it all. He also found it nice to observe the Yale students as they lived their lives, whether they were rushing to class, or studying in the park, Kurt felt a sense of normality by it all.

Was it weird to still feel connected to his ex-boyfriend? Even if they hadn't really "met" yet? The minute his stomach did the _thing,_ Kurt found himself racing back to his and Quinn's building. He ripped open the door, and saw Quinn jump in fright from where she sat, on her phone at the dining room table. When she got a good look at Kurt's face, she'd rushed over to him in a panic, grabbing his arms to steady them both.

"Kurt? What's wrong?"

"I-it's Blaine?"

Her face went from panicked to confused almost instantly.

"Blaine? Like, Anderson?"

"What other Blaine do we know?"

"Well," Quinn broke the eye contact she had with Kurt, and looked to the side almost guiltily. "You hooked up with a lot of guys back then, and it's not like you told me their names."

"Oh my god." Kurt said with a blush, wanting to throttle Quinn if the situation had been any different. "Anyways, this may sound weird, but from the moment I first met him, Blaine and I have had some sort of _connection_. Like we're attached by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away I am from him, I can always tell if he's feeling sad, or happy. I know, it sounds crazy, but he felt the same about me. I'm expecting it's gone now since he doesn't know who I am."

Quinn looked at him for a few minutes, hazel eyes piercing into his as she processed it all.

"I know what you mean." She whispered quietly.

" _What?_ "

"Hearing you put it into words, makes me realize I felt the same thing with R-Rachel, although it's much too late to admit it. The night of the-" She then broke off, trying to hold back tears from an accident that happened over a year ago. "I _knew_ something had happened, a part of me felt like it died."

Kurt was taken aback. He had no idea Quinn felt so strongly for Rachel, convinced it was only one sided for a long time, despite her confession during Michael week. But then, his mind flashed back and started remembering the little things, like how Quinn would always stare at Rachel every time one of the New Directions got up and sang a sappy love ballad. How it was Quinn who laughed at every single joke Rachel made, no matter how unfunny it was. How it was Quinn who defended Rachel, lashing out at anyone who called the other girl annoying, or complained she sang too many solos. The realization hit him hard, but the realization that Rachel was gone forever, hit him even harder. Sure, he'd lost Blaine in a way, but there was always time for a second chance. He talked to one of his dads every single week for a progress update, but Quinn had nothing to hold on to, except for one silly black reindeer sweater.

The only thing he could do was open his arms for a hug, but Quinn never accepted it. All she did was brush away the few tears that had begun to fall, and asked Kurt to continue what he'd been saying earlier.

"Well, while I was out, I felt a pull, something I hadn't felt in years. I know it was him."

"Do you think he remembers who you are?"

"No clue." Kurt said, trying to hide his excitement at the idea.

"Call his parents then."

He ran across the room to the phone, and did just that.

* * *

Blaine was right about this Kurt guy. His dads explained that him and Rachel had been a part of a Glee club at their old school, and the entire club had gotten the chance to star in the local Christmas special that year. The broadcasting program wasn't sure how well the program would do, so they called in a well-known actor from one of their TV shows to star in it. This was Kurt Hummel. Because of his busy schedule, him and Blaine were never able to become friends or anything, so that was the last he'd seen of him.

He tried googling this "Kurt Hummel" to read more about him, but nothing seemed to come up.

LeRoy and Hiram sure spent a lot of time discarding any other Kurt related items from around the house that night.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:**

 **We've had another time jump folks**. It's a year after the last chapter, two years after the accident. The rest of the story plays out in this time period, meaning this is the final jump, nice.

* * *

"I'm really going to miss our tutoring sessions, Sebastian." Blaine groaned.

"It's been a great two years, and I'm so proud of how far you've come."

The two boys were sitting in one of Dalton's many study halls, as they concluded their final session together. Somehow, against all odds, Blaine had managed to complete his four years of high school in just two. He felt a lot more like an eighteen-year-old boy now, especially since he'd gotten into NYU on early admissions, to pursue his dream of teaching. Once he'd finally come of age, he had tried to subtly ask Sebastian out, his crush on him never faltering, but the older boy declined. Blaine spent weeks heartbroken as he moved on, and felt a massive sense of shame whenever he saw Sebastian. Luckily, his tutor never made it awkward in any way. They just acted like it'd never happened.

He went home after that, and continued to box up all his stuff for his big move. Blaine was leaving for New York in just two weeks, destined to arrive July 19th, a bit before orientation, so he could look for a job and get settled. He wanted to bring his dog, who, besides some of his teammates, had become his best friend. However, Blaine knew it'd be too hard to focus on school and an animal all at once, so he was going to leave her with his dads, knowing she'd be in good hands.

* * *

Blaine sobbed saying goodbye to his parents that day. He boarded his flight looking like a train wreck. It was all worth it when he finally landed in New York, and got to see the big city up close. He'd only been there for a few minutes when Blaine was suddenly reminded of the circumstances from the last time he'd been there, but pushed that feeling of pain and loss as far down as he could. This is the place where he was following his dreams, not the time he'd lost three years of his life.

Deciding to dorm at NYU, Blaine was fairly pleased with his room. It was reasonably sized, and looked like any other dorm room, which he liked. There was no roommate yet, but he'd been informed the other freshman would be arriving towards the end of the month. He was excited to meet him, but really hoped it wasn't one of those people who slept with the entire school, or was homophobic, or snorted cocaine by the packet.

After dropping off resumes at several different coffee shops and record stores, stuff that interested Blaine, he was quite pleased to be called back for three different job interviews. All the employers really liked him, saying he was incredibly peppy, and would be great to have on their team. Two of them offered him a job on the spot. Blaine really considered his options, and went with the one he liked the most, at the location closest to where he lived. New York was proving to be great for him.

* * *

Six years ago, if you had told Kurt Hummel he'd be living with one of the head cheerleaders and biggest bitch in the school, Santana Lopez, he probably would've laughed, then slapped you in the face. But, when he arrived back to a new apartment Quinn picked for him in upper Manhattan, only to see the Latina girl had already been living there for months, he was barely surprised. Santana and him hadn't really been friends, but Blaine had made them close, and losing him, had them even closer. She went into hiding as well, but only spent a few months away from school, before dropping out completely, and moving to the city. She liked cheerleading, but it hadn't been her dream.

A lot of time had passed since that day, and both had grown massively as people.

Kurt still studied at NYADA, and Isabelle had let him immediately back into his position at Vogue. Once, back in March, he'd put blonde highlights in his hair on a dare from Santana, but they were both surprised once they saw how good they looked, so Kurt had kept them ever since. Because of this, the brunette ended up attracting a lot of unwanted attention at school, but none of the boys who pined after him felt right.

The same couldn't have been said for Santana, who met a girl named Dani where she worked as a singing waitress, and the two had been going out ever since. Kurt rather liked the girl, who was a perfect match for Santana, balancing her out completely. She was usually always at their apartment, and was a great addition to their little duo.

The only downside to this, was Kurt had abruptly lost all communication from Blaine's dad, around the time he'd gone home to Lima from Christmas. It was weird, because they had stopped talking to Burt as well, going completely off the map. The last time they'd spoken was a few weeks after the time Kurt felt his Blaine connection, which turned out to be just his imagination, since LeRoy and Hiram said everything was fine and nothing happened. Kurt now had no idea where Blaine was, and knew to look out for him to see if he'd arrived to New York or not, but in a city with over 8 million people, the chances of running into him would be very slim.

Also, he'd moved on, Blaine was old news. They hadn't seen each other, in what, two years? And although Kurt hadn't officially dated anyone else, he barely even thought about his ex or the accident anymore.

Or at least, that's what he thought.

* * *

The next month or so, before school started, Kurt spent it slaving over different designs for a small fashion show Vogue was putting on next month, with his designs being a main feature. He'd been giving the models measurements and requirements for the show a day after he'd gotten the news, and didn't have any time to be wasting while he prepared. Everything had to be immaculate, not a stitch or a rhinestone out of place. Santana found his work schedule insane, and had to come into the sewing room at least five times a week to remind Kurt that sleep was a thing, and he needed to get some. Other than that, the vogue employee didn't really have time to be interacting with anyone else, and the only time he left the apartment was to go to work, or buy some groceries, because he did not trust Santana with that job, after she'd mistakenly brought home chicken from a street vendor in SoHo, and gave them all food poisoning.

Today however, Santana seemed to be in dire need of a Starbucks, and wouldn't shut up about it unless Kurt went to get it for her. He suspected this was one of her ploys to get him out of the house, and he really could use the break, because he'd almost gone cross eyed from looking so closely at his designs so far. His best friend told him to go to one of the farthest ones he could find, just to give him more time off, and to go get familiar with the city again. He rolled his eyes at how ridiculous her ways of being helpful were, but was out the door and catching a taxi before even realizing.

He'd requested a ride to Bushwick, pretty much as an excuse to see his old neighbourhood. The cab driver was an older man, who spent the entire ride complaining about gay marriage, making Kurt realize that maybe this trip wasn't really worth it. He was more than relieved to finally be dropped off, and ended up being hit with a wave of nostalgia the minute he stepped out of the car and looked around.

Kurt walked past the loft, wondering if Jesse still lived there, and if it looked the same. He hadn't really kept in touch with Rachel's "boyfriend", if you can even call him that, because they hadn't really been the best of friends in the first place. Walking through this neighbourhood, as shady as it was, ended up being like a trip down memory lane. He saw the theatre him and Rachel had gone to see a cheap production of _Evita_ at, and some of the beautiful graffiti painted onto buildings that he still had pictures of. It wasn't long until he arrived at his destination, the Starbucks where him, Rachel, and Jesse had all gone to the latter's first day in New York. This place didn't really have any good memories for Kurt, but he'd still found himself drawn to the location anyways. As soon as he'd pushed open the glass doors, his phone went off with a text from Santana.

 **Tana:** get me a venti vanilla bean frappuchino, dani just got here and she wants a grande passion tea lemonade

 **Tana:** you're welcome for this little excursion babe

He had been too distracted by his phone to take a look at the man behind the counter.

It wasn't until he looked up at the sound of "What can I get you today?" that he saw who he'd come face to face with.

Blaine Anderson.


	15. Chapter 15

Kurt couldn't breathe. It felt like he was being suffocated, confined into a small dark room that slowly closed in on him. This was the boy he remembered, but so much more. If Kurt had thought the Blaine he'd dated was attractive, then the familiar barista who stood in front of him was a god. His physical features were the same, except they'd grown more prominent, making him look like a man. It was obvious he'd put gel in his hair, but the summer heat inside the grossly un-air conditioned café had made a few curls come loose. There was a very small hint of stubble on his chin, which had Kurt almost passed out on the floor. His shoulders were a lot broader and it was obvious he'd been doing a lot of exercise, probably from physical therapy or something. This made Kurt wonder all about the accident again, and his mind whirled with questions that he'd never bothered to ask the Ander-Berry fathers, like if he'd retained any harsh scars from the crash, exactly how much he remembered, his sexuality, and how they'd gotten around some of the Kurt related things in that house.

He couldn't even formulate a sentence, it was embarrassing. But he didn't even need to. Once Blaine saw him, his face lit up, in _was that recognition?_ Kurt's heart soared in his chest, even though it'd be physically impossible for Blaine to remember him.

He'd fooled nobody by saying he was over this boy.

"Wait, are you _Kurt Hummel_?" He asked, voice hushed like it was a secret?

What the actual, goddamn hell.

"You know who I am?"

"Of course, you're a freaking celebrity! can I get a picture with you?"

"I'm sorry?" This was all so much for Kurt to take in.

"You probably don't remember me," The Vogue employee had to bite down on his tongue so he wouldn't let out the most sarcastic laugh. "But back in 2011, we starred in a Christmas special together back in Lima, Ohio? I was in a car crash and lost a lot of memory, including that, but I found a recording of it back in, like May, of last year. We sang 'Let It Snow' together? I can show you some of the choreography I memorized from it to refresh your memory, if-"

He was out of the store before Blaine could even finish that sentence.

* * *

"Bitch? Where's my frapp?" Was the first thing Santana yelled when Kurt returned to the apartment, not having been able to smell her drink right away using her weird third eye thingy.

When Kurt didn't answer, the Latina girl stormed out from wherever she was, probably making out with her girlfriend in another room, and any anger boiling to the surface turned immediately to compassion when she saw the look on Kurt's face. She went and wrapped him in her arms, and all he could do was cry, and Santana's mind immediately flashed to her last day in Lima before she'd left for university, while she cradled Blaine the exact same way.

After he'd calmed down, Santana and Kurt sat gathered around the circular kitchen table, as Dani puttered around, making the two of them coffee. Santana looked incredulous after hearing Kurt's first words since coming home, and her tone of voice reflected her facial expression as she spoke next.

"What do you mean _you saw Blaine?_ "

"I mean, he works at the Starbucks you sent me to."

" _Dios mio_!" Santana exclaimed, putting her face in her hands out of pure stress, her voice muffling. "What happened?"

"He looks good, and I mean, _really_ good. But he thinks I'm a goddamn celebrity. From what I gathered, he found the Christmas special Artie directed back in 2011, saw me, and his dads must've lied to him about it. I totally freaked out and beelined straight here before I could say anything else."

"This is too much."

Dani walked over from where she stood at the coffee machine, and put a comforting hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. "One of you two has to go see him, because I've been able to see how clearly it's been eating you up not having him in your lives, and I don't even know the guy. It obviously can't be Kurt, because I think that'll be too much on him emotionally."

"I knew I wouldn't get a choice in this." Santana said, pretending to be annoyed, but how could she be annoyed when she was around a girl as perfect as Dani? "I'll go, but I need time to prepare myself for this. We obviously don't know his work hours, and it'll be impossible to find him anywhere else, so I'll just go in a week's time from right now."

"That sounds good." Kurt replied, not entirely okay, both thrilled and terrified at the idea.

"Now, you go work on fashion to calm your brain Kurt."

"Just not the designs for the show, I won't hear the end of it you screw something up because you're caught up on your ex." Santana interjected to her girlfriend's previous statement, causing Kurt to roll his eyes.

* * *

Even though she did everything she could to hide her worries, for Kurt's sake, Santana was terrified yet thrilled to see Blaine again. Her mind was racing as she walked down the streets of Bushwick, at a rather fast pace. A couple guys on the street winked at her, or made some kind of face, but she didn't have time to stop and bitch at them today.

Her hands were shaking as she found the Starbucks, and almost backed out at the last moment. She shot off a text to the group chat she had with Kurt and Dani, letting them know she'd arrived.

The first thing she did when stepping into the restaurant was look behind the counter, hoping to see Blaine. Santana put on her best brave face, making sure to look more stable than she really felt. The girl's heart plummeted when he wasn't there, and was instead replaced by a man in his late forties. But then she saw him, on the other side of the counter area, making drinks for people.

Her body froze in its place.

Kurt was right, he looked _great_. She was about to advance in his direction, hoping to find out when his next break was, when a boy behind her politely excused himself. The first thing she noticed was the clearly bleached blonde hair, and the bright blue eyes, but they weren't as nice as Kurt's. That might've been her just being biased. Anyways, this boy beat her to Blaine, and the minute the barista caught sight of him approaching, his entire face lit up and he smiled.

 _Oh shit._

The two began a light conversation, that the Latina girl couldn't hear from the other side of the store, but it looked very friendly. Blaine even left his post behind the counter to walk around and give this boy a long hug, followed promptly by the other boy slapping his ass.

This was very, very bad.

Snapping out of her reverie, Santana then remembered that she was here not only for Kurt, but for herself. Even if this guy was Blaine's boyfriend, there were still other questions that needed to be answered. Once both boys parted ways, and Blaine was back where he'd been originally. Santana strode over to where he was, and cleared her throat to get his attention. He whipped his head around, and that's when she noticed the little changes in him that only somebody who knew him _before_ could. While his gaze still had its friendly charm, there was a heavy layer of sadness behind it, like Blaine had spent all this time searching for something, but hadn't been successful in finding it yet. Other than that, there was also a small white scar on his left cheekbone, but that was the only physical evidence from the crash she could see.

"Can I help you?" Blaine asked, in the generic tone employees speak to their customers in.

"Yeah, um, this may sound weird, but we need to talk."

"Do I know you?" He sounded confused, having no recollection of the girl standing before him whatsoever.

"You did." She said, and Blaine's face morphed into some form of understanding, then told her his shift ended in fifteen minutes, and would make a drink for her until then, on the house.

The next few minutes, Santana couldn't keep herself from watching her former best friend. It was surreal to see him, especially after letting him go completely two years ago.

Kurt was texting her like mad, and she gave him as much information as she could, but neglected to tell him about the interaction she witnessed before talking to Blaine, saving that for in person. At around 4pm, signaling the end of Blaine's shift, Santana took one last sip of her Frappuccino before tossing it in the trash, waiting for the hazel eyed boy to come over to her table. He arrived a little bit later, having changed into street clothes, which consisted of a navy blue striped Henley, a mustard yellow pair of Capri pants, and loafer shoes with, surprisingly, no socks. Even a devastating car accident and memory loss still couldn't get some people to forget old habits.

"It's really nice to see you Blaine. That boy who visited you before I did, someone special?" Santana asked, crossing her fingers under the table.

"No," He said with a small chuckle, and o _h how she missed that laugh_. "That's just my college roommate, Jeff. He's got a girlfriend anyways, plus he's totally not my type. Wait, why am I telling you this? How did we know each other?"

"We were best friends back in high school, actually. My name is Santana Lopez. Can you tell me the last thing you remember before the accident so I know where to start?"

Blaine looked a little taken aback at these words, but a part of him was telling him to trust this person who sat across from him. It wasn't every day that beautiful girls came into his workplace claiming they were his best friend.

"The last thing I remembered was sitting in a ninth-grade class, sometime towards the beginning of the school year, mooning over some girl, which is insane, since I'm definitely gay."

Santana breathed a sigh of relief, for Kurt's sake.

"How did you know I was here, Santana?"

"Oh, um," she hesitated at this, not entirely knowing what to say. Then, she realized that a little bit of the truth wouldn't hurt, especially since Blaine had been told lots of lies over these past few years. "You know Kurt Hummel?"

"The celebrity?"

Normally, she would've found this hilarious. But since Santana was walking a very fine line between connecting to Blaine and ruining everything, she had to choose both her words and actions very carefully. "He's a friend of mine. I talked about you on occasion, so when he saw you here, Kurt came straight to me. Also, he isn't famous, Blaine."

"He isn't? Then did he go to high school with us? Because I saw him in that Christmas Special thing."

 _Fuck._

"Yeah, yeah he did. But he transferred soon after that was filmed, none of us were really friends with him."

"Why would my parents lie to me about him then?" Blaine asked, not knowing who to believe.

"You know what, I didn't really come here to talk about Kurt, or your parents." Santana quickly cut in, not knowing what to say without revealing something she knew she couldn't "I came to hear about you. How've you been, Blaine?"

The younger boy still looked rather confused, and after a few moments of thinking, began talking. "I guess I've been okay. Things haven't been great, you know, losing all this memory as well as my sister, but they haven't been awful either. Um, I spent a lot of time in physical therapy, but mostly working on finishing high school with a private tutor at Dalton Academy." He noticed how Santana's expression shifted at that last part, but he couldn't quite tell into what. "Other than that, I've now enrolled into NYU, majoring in education. I haven't been living in the city for long, just a few months. How have you been?" He asked in a tone that proved he genuinely wanted to know.

Santana first thought she'd misheard him. She was still a total stranger to Blaine, but here he was, asking her about her life. But then again, the former cheerleader wasn't too surprised, because that was Blaine, ever the gentleman.

"Normally I'd think it's weird you want to know." She began, voicing her thoughts out loud. "But I'm so glad to see that this trauma you've been through hasn't destroyed the best part of you, which is how much you _care_. Anyhow, just like you, I've been in the middle I guess. I'd already started college when the accident happened, you were a year younger than all of us." Santana cut off, realizing Blaine had no idea who she was referring to. "Sorry, I mean all your main friends in Glee Club. I'd gotten a scholarship to a University in Louisville, but dropped out after a few months. After that, I moved here, all by myself. I had no idea what I wanted, no plans for anything at all. Then, Kurt moved in with me, and I met my girlfriend, Dani as well. Things just played out from there I guess."

"You live with Kurt Hummel? That's awesome!" Blaine said enthusiastically, then continued, his tone turning serious and quiet. "C-can you tell me what I was like?"

"Pardon?"

"In high school, when we were friends? What was I like?"

Santana had to resist the urge not to get out of her seat and wrap the small boy in a hug, shielding him from everything and anything that did him wrong.

"Well, I was a bitch. Actually, I still am. When you came along after moving here, I never thought I'd ever be friends with somebody like you, all uptight with your 1950's movie star hair and a bowtie that matched each one of your polo shirts, cardigan, and Capri pant ensembles." Blaine self-consciously looked down at what he was wearing, before turning his attention back to the conversation. "But then I heard you sing, and I felt drawn to you. I saw the kind of person you were, a natural born leader, and knew I needed you by my side. We connected right away, then I was publically outed, and we became even closer. You were, and still definitely are funny, gorgeous, caring, witty, and just all around perfect. I've missed you more than anything over these past few years, Hobbit. Oh, my god, I did _not_ just say that." Santana said with a chuckle. "That was my favourite nickname for you. The only thing we could make fun of besides your weird gentleman like habits, something no boy your age should've even come close to possessing, was your height."

Blaine smiled at all of this information, but it was filled with sadness, searching for these memories, just _something_ to make this seem more real, but found nothing. "Did I have any nicknames for you?" He asked.

"Um, you called me 'Tana, but that's pretty much what everyone calls me. Oh, and then there was Satan, but that was reserved only for when I did something particularly bitchy, which I swore was just me being honest."

"Man, I really need to reconsider my nickname capabilities, those suck."

They both laughed at that, then after a few more minutes of small talk like that, the two newfound friends exchanged numbers, then went their own ways.

* * *

It wasn't always that Kurt's OCD reached a point where it became a problem. Normally, it was just the little things he did on a day to day basis, like a highly specific bedtime routine, and how he needed to turn the light on and off 7 times before stepping into his _Vogue_ office on Thursday afternoons. These were manageable, and he'd only have severe flare ups on a few occasions. The first being when his dad went to the hospital, and everything happened with Sebastian. After that there'd been the time his boyfriend had been in the hospital after the rock salt entered his eye, then followed by the stress surrounding his NYADA audition. There was obviously the car accident, but Quinn had been there to help him through it, and that hadn't lasted long. Now? As the blue-eyed man scrubbed his hands raw under the sink, he knew exactly why this was happening. All the stress of seeing Blaine again was weighing down on him, and knowing Santana was there with him _right now_ hadn't been helping either. Piled on top of that, he had the fashion show, and a dance recital coming up for NYADA, Kurt still wasn't in quite a comfortable place with his routine for that yet.

Normally, Kurt always had someone to fall back on whenever this happened, but it'd never been Santana. He didn't know how either of his roommates would react to his OCD, and was too scared to find out. But for now, he knew he just had to pile through it, and hope this little flare up would be resolved soon enough.

The loft door blew open a little bit later, and in strode Santana, not even able to take a breath before Kurt was all up in her face.

"Kurt, sit down." She demanded, gesturing to the couch.

Once they were settled, Santana pulled down on her tight red dress one more time, and began to speak.

Kurt hadn't said a word the entire time, only able to mutter a small 'thank you' before quietly walking back to his room. Not really the reaction she'd been expecting, but Santana had bigger things to worry about.


	16. Chapter 16

Over a month had passed since Santana had first visited Blaine, a week since Kurt's designs killed it at that Vogue show. The two talked, a lot, and occasionally went out for dinners and coffee, but Santana made sure to keep it on the down low, so her roommate wouldn't find out. He'd go see Blaine again when he was ready.

Which turns out, was today.

"Are you want to do this?" She asked, straightening her roommate's black bowtie in the mirror. He was dressed how he always did, to impress, and she could tell he'd spent extra time getting ready this morning. Kurt looked _hot_ if she did say so herself, having styled his blonde highlighted hair in a way that seemed like somebody had been running their hands through it, with only a few strands falling on his face purposely.

"No, but I _need_ to see him again. Even if he doesn't see me in the way he used to, Blaine was still my best friend."

Santana gave him one last pat on the back before sending him out the door, making sure he was completely gone and not planning on chickening out at the last minute, before stripping naked and joining her girlfriend in bed.

* * *

Kurt didn't know whether he was supposed to laugh or cry when he saw Blaine standing behind the counter again, taking people's orders, dreamy as he'd always been. Now that the whole celebrity debacle had been cleared, Kurt knew he didn't have to worry about being called out like the last time. The only thing that really settled him was the fact Blaine had attended Dalton, and even had a massive crush on Sebastian Smythe. Kurt was still unsure how he felt about that, after hearing the news from Santana. Shaking off all his nerves, he stood in line behind a middle-aged woman and her daughter, mentally preparing for what was to come.

"Hey!" Kurt began, praising himself for sounding so natural, despite how he currently felt. He was about to order a drink for himself when he caught Blaine's eye, right before his ex-boyfriend embarrassingly blurted out, "No wonder the sky is grey today, all the blue is in your eyes."

Kurt felt his face heat up immediately, and wanted to say something, but all that came out was a strangled sounding noise. _Was he getting hit on? By_ Blaine Anderson _?_

He was in for a real treat, because Blaine only used cheesy pick-up lines like this when he got incredibly nervous.

Kurt watched as Blaine's face turned bright pink at his words, and began to quickly ramble, wrapping his arms around his chest, curling in on himself, trying to disappear. "Oh my _god_ , Kurt Hummel, right? I am _so_ sorry. I have no filter. Every time I see an impressionable young man, I always blurt out the _worst_ pick-up lines. Shoot, I don't even know if you're _gay_. Let me get me co-worker to take care of you, since I very obviously can't.

"Does this happen a lot?" Kurt asked purely out of curiosity, ready to scope out any competition. Blaine looked confused at first, surprised this man wasn't ready to get him fired or something, then caught on to what he was asking.

"Never. Well, not since that time I thought I was taking Harry Styles' coffee order, but it just turned out to be some straight guy who completely told me off. Thus my little freak out."

God, he was so adorable.

"Lucky for you, I'm not straight, and have no intention of getting you in any kind of trouble, well at least, not in a workplace." Kurt said, voice sultry, not knowing what inspired such change. Blaine noticed it too, because his eyes turned darker, and slightly tensed up even more where his arms were still wrapped around himself.

"My break isn't for another hour," Blaine announced, breaking the moment they'd temporarily had. "But I can give you my phone number so we can continue this via text. I know you live with Santana, so I'm not, like creeping on you or anything. If that'd be okay with you?"

"Yeah, of course." Kurt replied, proceeding to order his drink, then watching Blaine scribble a few digits onto the coffee cup before sending it off to one of the baristas. Just before he walked away, Kurt heard the bell chime behind him, signaling a new customer entering the store. Blaine's face lit up in recognition, and before he could turn around to see who'd walked in, Blaine quickly piped up again. "Quick, Kurt. Grab my arm, so I can tell my roommate who just walked in that I've been touched by an angel."

"You are an idiot." He replied, but laughed nonetheless. It was a belly laugh, the kind that made Kurt's face scrunch up in a totally unattractive way, forcing him to worry about wrinkles. He hadn't laughed like that in a _very_ long time.

He began making his way over to retrieve his mocha, rolling his eyes as Blaine called back to him. "Oh, _come on!_ That was one of my best lines! Are you kid – oh, hey Jeff. How may I help you?"

That evening, Kurt, Santana and Dani spent at least 45 minutes screaming and dancing around the apartment over how well the encounter went. The former then spent a lot of his night on the phone with his family and close friends, sharing the good news. Everyone was proud of him, and so very happy he'd gotten a second chance.

Kurt thought about phoning Hiram and LeRoy, but then realized that'd be stupid, because they'd shut him out long ago.

* * *

A knock at the door two weeks later signaled Blaine's arrival. This was about to be their third unofficial date, and Kurt could not be happier. They'd spent the first two discussing the present, and very rarely touching on the past, since Blaine was under the impression Kurt had hardly been in his. Tonight, Blaine was dressed in a full suit, put together with one of his signature bowties, and had they been officially together, Kurt would've ravished him on the spot, for old time's sake of course.

They were wearing practically the same things, except Kurt's suit was topped off with a tie. The two men hadn't always been this formal on their little _get togethers_ , except this time, they had plans on going to Sardi's, so they had to look their best.

The date went amazing, Kurt even took a leap of faith to kiss Blaine on the cheek as he dropped him off at his dorm, causing both of them to blush, and sputter out their goodnights.

It was nice to know Kurt still had some of his charm after all this time.

* * *

After a few more of these extravagant friendly date nights, Kurt and Blaine decided to spend some time in one of their apartments, just for a night in. Kurt's place won, considering not only was it bigger, but he could easily send his roommate off at any given moment, whereas Blaine's would only just creepily listen their conversations and do everything he could to embarrass him.

He'd only met Jeff a few times, but Kurt really liked the guy. Especially when it involved hearing about little things Blaine did that he thought were humiliating, but Kurt only found adorable. Like how he read _Star Wars_ fanfiction to help himself fall asleep at night, or how he'd often get caught sneaking out to buy a box of cronuts every once in a while, although it obviously didn't show, because Blaine was still fit as ever.

They'd scheduled this little _rendezvous_ for a Friday night, knowing neither of them had school the next day, and both had nights off work.

At least that's what Kurt thought.

It was a little awkward at first, trying to keep their hands to themselves as they sat down on Kurt's couch, bowls of popcorn and other snacks in front of them as they watched a bunch of _Friends_ reruns on TV. Then, Kurt remembered that it would be okay for them to cuddle just a bit, because that's what friends did, right?

"Do crushes do that as well?" Was the response he'd received in return to his proposition, not realizing he'd voiced his thoughts out loud. This made him snap out of the gaze he'd had on the TV, looking straight into Blaine's hazel eyes, which had been focused on him the entire time.

And slowly but surely, they were leaning in, eyes closing, hearts racing.

When Kurt's cellphone went off, the two boys almost flew off the couch, startled.

"Sorry." Kurt muttered, mentally cursing everything that had conspired against him in that one moment. He picked up his phone, glaring at it as if it could actually know what he was doing, an old habit of his. Then he saw the number flash across the screen. "I have to get this, it's somebody from school faculty I think. You stay right where you are, Anderson." He said, pointing towards Blaine, who was doing anything but make eye contact, embarrassed.

As soon as he walked out of the room, Kurt picked up the call, curious yet pissed as to who from NYADA would be so desperate to get in touch with him this late at night.

"Hello?"

"Kurt Hummel?" Carmen Tibedaux's monotone voice asked through the receiver. This was a shock, seeing as she'd never called him on the phone before, much less even bothered to acknowledge his existence ever since he'd returned to the Academy.

"This is he."

"Today I was having lunch with a good friend of mine, Hugh Jackman." Kurt nearly dropped the phone, amazed at how she could speak so calmly about this. "And we got to talking about Peter Allen. I mentioned how you auditioned with one of his songs, all those years ago, and ended up finding a clip of you singing it on YouTube for him to see." Of course, Blaine recorded his audition, broadcasting it for the world, which turned out to be about two thousand people, to see soon after his acceptance letter arrived. That bastard. "Anyways, he rather enjoyed your performance, and after finding out a bit more about you from some of our faculty, is willing to offer you a role in the newest play he's directing. If you're up for it."

"I'll take it!" Kurt exclaimed, far too enthusiastically, not wanting to pass up an opportunity such as this. The conversation ended with Kurt getting Hugh fricking Jackman's phone number, business one to be exact, and her wishing him the best on this play.

Of course, in the midst of it all, Kurt had forgotten about one thing, who just happened to be sitting on his couch, looking up at him with the most gorgeous eyes the brunette had ever seen, hoping to finally get the chance to kiss the man he'd been pining over for weeks.

"Who was that?" Blaine asked, and the realization of what just happened hit Kurt like a truck.

"We can't do this anymore."

" _What?_ "

"I've just been offered a role in a potentially Broadway worthy play, directed by _Hugh Jackman_." Blaine, despite feeling like he'd just been stabbed, managed to squeak out a 'congratulations!', before Kurt continued. "Meaning I'll end up being at rehearsal, all the time, and when I'm not, will have to be balancing school and Vogue. I don't think I can manage what we have on top of all of that, I won't be able to keep you happy, and provide to you what you need."

"And you think this is a better alternative? We aren't even _dating_ , Kurt."

"You and I both know that was exactly where this was heading."

"I can wait. We can work through this, just stay friends if that's what you want. I haven't known you for too long, but I know what we're building together is worth fighting for."

"Blaine, I can't. You know what happened last time we tried to work through our busy lives and – "

"Last time?"

This was _not_ happening.

Blaine had been so carefully hidden from this secret for about three years now, and there was no way Kurt'd just ruined everything with one simple sentence. He considered back tracking, acting like he'd slipped up on his words, but if there was one thing him and Blaine had never faltered with doing, it was honesty.

"We dated, Blaine."

"What do you mean?" He asked, voice cautious.

It was then that Kurt snapped. All his frustration over how unfair this all was, having to pretend Blaine was a virtual _nobody_ to him before the coffee shop fiasco, when really, he'd been Kurt's _everything_. He was frustrated over having to endure years of torture, feeling completely alone, cut off from his soulmate, having to spend months filling the emptiness with pointless hookups and excruciating hangovers. Frustration over the destined break up that never happened, how instead Rachel's life, and three years of Blaine's were taken away from him that night. The three years that had completely shaped him, turned him into the person Kurt had fallen in love with.

"We fucking dated, Blaine." Kurt explained, tone a lot more vicious than before. "I never _transferred_ like you'd be told, and I wasn't some _celebrity_ like the bullshit lie your parents made up. You and I met, two summers before your accident, in Lima. I lived across the street, we were _neighbours_. Rachel and I were best friends. Hell, we moved here together." Everything just poured out of Kurt, until not a single secret about the past had been kept from Blaine. He told him everything from how the night of the accident really played out, to the way they always quoted a lyric from _Moulin Rouge_ as an alternative for saying I love you. By the end of it all, Kurt was sobbing, hardly making any sense as he choked out a few more sentences about Margaret Thatcher Dog, and unscheduled make out sessions.

Blaine a mess as well, eyes red rimmed as he cried, but showed no recognition of remembering any of this happening, which broke Kurt even more.

Once Kurt was done, Blaine silently got up, and left the apartment, leaving Kurt completely alone, the reality of what he'd just done finally sinking in.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:**

I don't know if it's because I wrote the first draft of this at like 1am, or because it's actually really emotional and the end to a story I've spent months working on, but I spent like three days consumed with a dire need to hug Blaine Anderson.

Speaking of, if anybody makes a Taylor Swift "I'm sorry, the old Blaine can't come to the phone right now" joke because of my story, I will fucking block you at the speed of light. Just kidding, but don't do that.

This is the end, and I'm too eager to publish it than take the time to get all sappy with this note, so take the time to cry for me, Argentina.

Also, this is my own version of an epilogue, and I don't have any plans of continuing with this universe, so the future of this Kurt and Blaine, just like I said before about 3x05, is yours to create. Let them get married, just not a stupid double wedding. Or do, whatever floats your boat!

* * *

"Hey kiddo." Burt Hummel said, pulling his son into a hug at the airport, knowing how awful life had been treating him lately. Of course, Burt knew everything that happened with Blaine, especially how Kurt hadn't heard from him since he'd told him the truth, which had been months ago. How his son had turned down a once in a lifetime chance soon after, deciding to focus more on his love of fashion, dropping out of NYADA completely. That was a hard process, and once it was completed, Kurt had immediately booked tickets to come home for a bit, mainly to take a break from all the rush of the big city.

Seeing his childhood home made a large wave of nostalgia roll over Kurt, but it couldn't compare to how he felt when he set foot into his basement bedroom. Everything looked the same, but the room felt _emptier_. There were so many memories in here, things that happened not only with Blaine, but with the girls he loved more than words, and a step brother who never fully accepted him for who he was.

It was so nice to be home, where every day looked the same. It was a little weird seeing the house across the street being lived in by another family, but it wasn't like Kurt hadn't been used to it. The Ander-Berry's had only been living there for under two years after all. Today however, was different.

It started in the morning, when Carole and Burt excused themselves for the day, announcing they both were unexpectedly called into work, which was strange, because neither of them ever worked on Saturdays. Especially since Burt was his own boss, so he made all the calls. They both gave him a little wink before leaving, which was even stranger.

* * *

Around noon, Kurt had been busying himself tidying small things around his room, before hearing the front door open. His first thought was one of his parents coming home for lunch, but that was ruled out the second he heard the sound of what was mistakenly dog paws pattering across the hardwood floors. Moments later, a rather large golden retriever was padding down the stairs, and somehow, Kurt just knew who's dog this was.

"Santana said you'd be here. Also, your parents. I got their numbers from my dad, I swear, I'm not creepy. Also, I made sure the dog was completely clean of snow before letting her in, so don't worry."

Blaine sounded timid, the way he always did after there'd been tension between the two.

Kurt honestly had no idea what he was doing here. He wasn't mad at the other's presence, especially because Blaine looked rather cute in his striped black and white shirt over gray Capri pants, wearing his round glasses, Kurt's personal favourite, but were fogged up by the cold weather outside, making it even more adorable.

Margaret Thatcher Dog was now rubbing her nose against Kurt's hand, begging to be pet, so Kurt obliged, taking the time to reach down and scratch under one of her floppy ears. Then he realized Blaine was probably dying as he stood there at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Kurt to say something in return.

"We met here. Well, not technically. We fell for each other here, to be more specific. Our first kiss was also in that bathroom." He said, with a point to the small adjoining room to his left, trying to feign off the flood of memories preparing to rush in at any moment. "And to top it all off, we first had sex in that bed. If you ever need a memory refresher, this is the place to come."

"Look, Kurt," Blaine began, not moving from where he stood, still nervous and looking awfully sad behind all the fear. "I thought you telling me all that stuff would help me remember at least something, but _I can't_. The me you dated is gone, and this," He said, gesturing up and down his body. "Is all I have. I can't compete with the person I was, and as far as I'm concerned, I'll never even know _who_ he was. I didn't follow you back to Ohio, either. I had planned to come home for Christmas anyways, like I'd told you before. Actually, I ended up getting in this huge fight with my dads, for having lied to me all these years. We made up yesterday, and when I found out you were here as well, I knew I had to come see you to do the same."

Kurt wanted to cry, not only because of how open Blaine was being, but because of his confession, that there was no chance whatsoever of helping him remember what he lost. But he couldn't cry, because there'd been far too much of that lately. He gestured over to his bed, and the two boys sat at the edge of it, shoulders touching but nothing more, not exactly knowing where they stood.

"Thank you for telling me the truth, though."

"Honestly?" The brunette began, getting ready to open up himself. "I only did it because I was scared. And frustrated. Frustrated that of what you'd been sheltered from all this time, and everything we'd lost in a matter of seconds that night. Scared because you meant so much to me in that moment before the phone went off, that after getting the news, just made me put every wall I'd worked so hard on keeping down back up again. And I'm sorry, Blaine. Truly, genuinely, and a million other adjectives, sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about Kurt. Somebody would've told me eventually, and I'm so lucky it'd been you. But here's the thing, I can't leave you. All this stuff you said about us not being able to stay in touch once you start rehearsal for your show, is stuff I just can't get behind.

Do you know who else you lost that day? You lost the Blaine who apparently relied on you as his only source of happiness, and needed you to be there for him 24/7. This Blaine who couldn't do long distance? He's gone. I'm not that person, Kurt."

"I quit the show."

"I'm sorry?" Blaine turned to him, appalled. "Why? Please don't say it was because of me."

"I quit it for myself, to finally find my own happiness. Which is you.

For years, I would've told people my biggest passions are the bright lights of Broadway, or the glitz and glamour behind New York Fashion Week, but it's taken me all this time to realize there's nothing I love more than the man sitting next to me. I don't care that the Blaine I dated is gone, because really? He isn't. You're still the person I fell in love with, and the way I still feel about you after all that's happened terrifies me. The only thing that's changed about you, is just that you can't remember it. But that's completely okay, because now? We have the rest of our lives to spend together, creating new memories for ourselves, until the end of time."

Blaine looked at him, his large puppy style eyes practically matching the dogs' who laid across the room, full of hope and what looked a lot like love. Kurt couldn't resist pulling the smaller man into his arms, smiling as he tucked his face into Kurt's shoulder, hiding his emotions from the world unless he had a shit eating grin plastered across his face. They stayed like this for a while, until Kurt's side began to cramp up and he had to pull away. Then, he turned over to Blaine, the flirtatious glint in his eyes back again as he spoke next. "I believe we were up to something before I got that phone call."

"Were we?" Blaine replied, acting innocent, but already beginning to lay back on the bed as Kurt crawled on top of him.

"Would you like a little reminder, Anderson?" Hearing Kurt call him by his last name went right to Blaine's crotch.

"Before you do so, you mean to tell me you want our updated first kiss to be in the same room as the original one?"

"We kissed in the bathroom, silly. Plus, this place holds historic value, it'd be a shame just to let that all go to waste before going back to New York."

"You're so sapp-" He was cut off by Kurt's soft lips pressing down on his.

And for once, after the hell they'd been through over the years, everything finally felt _right_ for Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson. They were home.


End file.
